Warning
by Insert a Catchy Penname Here
Summary: "You really think you have what it takes to defy me, little girl?" sitting in his office, I realized just how evil this man really was. Standing up to my full hieght, even though it wasn't much, I spoke, "All I'll say was I warned you when your dying."
1. Rue that Day

Warning 1

Author Note: I have a sneaking suspicousion you guys like this trilogy ;D Thanks for your EPIC support!

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

The thing was, I woke up.

The people surronding me were gaping in absoulte amazement. I tried to tilt my head, only to realize I was hooked up to about a million machies with about three times as many wires. My eyes searched there alarmed faces as I realized something.

I was still alive. _I was still alive. _

"Impossible! She...she..." one man sputtered as they all stepped back, one hitting a button on a remote that unhooked every wire.

"Where am I?" I asked weakly, sitting up and instantly collasping, "wait...why am I not in the areana?"

I'd surrived the Hunger Games. Rue and Peeta had won. But I was still alive.

Not. Good.

"Sweetheart...how're you alive?" the same man asked me softly, trembling from...what? Fear? Excitment?

Both?

"I...I don't know..." I stood on shaky legs, only to collapse again. All of their hands instantly caught me, setting me on the bed edge and making me smile weakly my thanks.

"Well...at any rate..." another women took my hand with her violently trembling one, "we should...well...feed you, right?"

* * *

I'm not sure how long I was out, but the food felt even more rich than when I'd first experinced it from the Capital. But my stomach was increbidly swollen and hollow, so most of it just came right back up. And yet I just kept eating until it finally stayed down enough for me to call myself satisified.

The people in the Wire Room all looked in shock. They just stared as I scarfed down as much food as I possibly could, then threw it all back up, then went back for more. The man who'd first spoken was now silent and very pale, and I felt bad that they just had to come into the terms that a person who was once dead was living again.

When I saw myself in the mirror, I certainly looked like a zombie.

My blonde braids were long gone, and now my hair was frizzy and tangled many, many knots. My blue eyes were sleepy and unglazing, and my frame with thinner than ever. You could literrly see my ribs in full detail, and I was horrified.

Three of the people from the room came back to me. One looked around seventeen, having bright orange ringlets that snaked down her neck and her entire short, plump body was a light purple. The second looked in his late twenties, early thirties, with bright green hair that ended in arrow-forms down his back and fire red eyes. The third and last looked about Katniss' age, with long brunette hair with all the colors of the random weaved in, then pink, animae-type eyes.

She looked _Katniss' _age.

Katniss. I had to find her and tell her I was okay. Well...first I'd diszombify myself, _then _I'd present myself.

Turning the odd trio, I inquired, "Would you guys happen to know anything about styling?"

* * *

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

An uprsing.

It was a little hard for my mind to believe, honestly. Little ole me, who barely surrived the Hunger Games and was still recovering from dyhydration and deadly weight loose, starting an uprising.

And yet my mind knew it was going to happen. It was the right thing...the Capital were demons and cruel, merciless. They could kill children and not blink.

They would get their karma.

But first I had to go on some kind of Victory Tour, celabrating the fact that Peeta and I lived and had to watch twenty-two other tributes die painfully. ("A momentance triumpt," my foot.)

Sorry, I sound mean now. But the Capital is just...ugh, it's awful. Besides, they'd killed innocent people countless times. They'd killed my fellow tribute, Thresh.

They'd killed Peeta's fellow tributes, Primrose Everdeen. She was also my best and only true friend in the world.

Sure, Peeta was a friend and ally. I mean, he'd saved my life in The Hunger Games. But we had a romantic-cover story going on, and sense there were camreas everywhere, it wasn't going to be easy just to be friends.

Prim and I didn't have any story-line. We were actually best friends, pretty much since I met her after she'd vetoed her big sister volunteering to take her place. It's a long story...but I admired her, and she was an amazing partner.

And now she was dead.

So yes, I would start an uprising. For Prim's sake.

I know that's what she would've wanted.

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V**_

I looked pretty amazing. Maybe not as amazing as I had with the help of District 12's stylist that helped make Katniss the Girl on Fire, but I still looked great.

My long blonde hair was neatly combed and shiny, now in one braid instead of two. I had black slacks on that fit perfectly as well as fancy-type brown boots underneath, and my blouse was a pure white that complimented my now more colored face.

Annalie, Jade, and Mickey, (the three who'd made me pretty,) helped me into the box. Jade gave me a few instructions on how to stay still and act...well, dead. The train would take me back to District 12, and when they did, I'd pop out and run home.

"Thank you guys so much," I grinned to them, sad I'd never see them once more but happy that they'd been friendly.

"Be careful, Primrose," Annalie suddenly looked much older than eighteen speaking to me, "a few whispers speak of an uprising."

"Uprising?" I echoed softly. An uprising by who, I asked them nervously.

"The girl winner," Mickey replied, looking just as solem as the other two, "Rue."

_Rue_?

"You gotta start your act," Jade was slowly closing the coffin lid, "good luck, kid."

I sighed shakily as I was carried out by a few men grumbling about the weight. As soon as the train was moving, I slid out of the box and found a pile of cloth.

Burying my face in it, I screamed.


	2. Never alone

Warning 2

I was afraid of death before I came to The Hunger Games. Now the scent of it made me absoutley sick.

Being on that train in a tiny cramped box half the time was not only uncomfortable but very unsantiary. The other dead bodies were on that train...and they actually were dead. Their heavy scent overwhelmed me many times, the rotting meat and my own vomit stench being my own personal drug. This train was in awful sanitary conditons...well, then again, I was supposed to be dead, too. And the dead don't care.

Let's just say I felt _very sorry _for whoever cleaned that train car by the time we got to District 12.

* * *

I was watching Katniss through my eyelashes as she opened up my coffin box. Of course she'd be the one to do it...she had bloodshot eyes and tangled up brown hair. She looked so hollow...just like mom had.

Oh no.

"Prim," her voice sounded old and tired, like she spent all her time staring straight ahead, not eating or moving, just being depressed or crying, "Primrose...you commited suicide...you could've won."

She wanted to be angry with me, and somewhere inside she was. Heck, _I _was angry with me. But she was slipping further and further from the world each day, I could tell...she was pretty much gone by now.

"You're never going to be alone as long as I can have a say in it," and that's when I saw the knife in her hand.

"No..." my voice was so hoarse...oh well, "Katniss."

* * *

I'm thinking that we cried ourselfes a few oceans after that.

It would take time. I knew it would...Katniss had pretty much left the world behind when she thought I died. But I could repay her by sticking with her, just like she'd done with me when mom died.

Mom had commited suicide when I left. Katniss couldn't stop her...Mom was too far gone, even when she was around. Katniss had told me that Mom had actually put the bullet to her heart when the Hunger Games began.

"She didn't think you'd surrive," my big sister explained hollowly, and I felt somewhat hurt by this. She might still be around if her oldest daughter I'd gone...we both knew she was surrivor and was the reason we were, too.

"I'm sorry I left you alone," I sat on her lap, latching onto her neck, and we held that position until we fell asleep, just like we used to when I was small.

* * *

_**Rue's P. O. V **_

It felt so wrong to be reboarding that train, even for a Victory Tour. It brought back very painful memories...

"Rue?" Peeta inquired softly beside me, and when I looked into his eyes, I had to act like I was ditzy and in love with how blue they were.

"Yes?" I brushed my bangs out of my eyes as he smiled at me, like he loved me as well.

"Well, on this Victory Tour...I don't want you to leave my side," he took my small hands in his own and gave them a gentle squeeze, "I've felt uneasy ever since you left my side a few weeks back. I missed you too much...I couldn't bear it."

When we kissed, I pretended it sent a thrill through me. Well...honestly, it kind of did. I'd never had anyway romatic in my life, and even this wasn't real, but being kissed...it just sends a thrill through you.

As the train started off, I leaned back with my eyes shut. I said this love wasn't real...but I wasn't really sure, considering all that had happened in the areana.


	3. Ghosts

Warning 3

_**Prim's P. O.V**_

It took time.

I knew it would from the moment I learned I'd be coming back to her. Katniss was getting better. A lot of people didn't believe that, but I knew my sister as well as she knew me.

She would return to me, just like mom did.

And then I would even more than overjoyed, just like I had for mom.

Of course I'd forgive her, like mom did.

_Mom. Mom. Mom. _

I was the reason she died. The human feelings abut her death were setting in now, and it was grusome and made me feel as hollow as Katniss looked. I was the reason, it was my fault.

A few deaths were because of me, actually.

The Hunger Games forced me to kill or be killed. But the hobo who'd helped me at the start of this long, gruelling journey...he was murdered in public for giving me a chance to bypass my due hanging. And before that, the reason I was supposed to be hung...a Peacekeeper had commited suicide, making it look like I killed him so I could get to the Capitol after Katniss volenteered.

Two deats in two days, then those kids in the Games, and now mom too. What was next?

I was a murderer now. Nothing would change that fact. I couldn't confine in that burning, endless, torturous guilt with Katniss right now...she would somehow blame herself, and that'd only make her condition worse. I would do like any nurse in the time of war/harships: I'd feed her with berries and herbs.

She got strong enough to hunt again.

I gave her company and promised everything was okay. It would be, for her at least. For me...there was no telling what could happen. But I refused to let it show, even for a moment.

She slowly started to smile again and talk more.

I sang to her a low voice, just like dad had done once. She loved my voice, to hear my lullabies and feel me curled beside her. The roles were now switched, and I was now a big sister while she recovered from a place so dark she couldn't have seen any kind of light. She would try and blame herself when she was back to normal...but until then...

I sang her favorite lullabies and took the role Katniss Everdeen had done for me for so many years.

* * *

_**Rue's P. O.V **_

I fell asleep in the chair that night, head resting on my folded hands, dreaming my rememberence of the arena once more. I did every night...I guess I would forever. The entire summary came to me that night in a vivid rememberance:

_I was hungry. I was having a heat stroke. I could feel myself slipping each second, wondering desperatley where Prim was. Was she dead? Or did she abandone me? _

_Oh, and I was so freaking thirsty. _

_My mouth craved and needed a liquid to soothe the pain. I was bleeding from chewing at the insides of my cheeks, letting my blood soothe my screaming tongue while it lasted. Now I was still laying there, basically in my own grave, dying slowly and painfully. _

_Oh, so very painfully. _

_The Careers had passed a few times, but they just laughed and walked on. They loved to see me be tortured...they actually watched after they'd speared a boy from District 10. I could only lay there while I died, weak and helpless, completley at even the wind's mercy. _

_And I wondered where Prim was with our water. _

_I was just about to let death overcome me when I heard big, clumsy footfall. I hoped for a second it was Thresh before remembering he was dead and gone forever, and that I was probably just imiganing it. Then I felt a touch that was completley real, and water exploded in my mouth. _

_I drank all that I could, but my body instantly went into reverse. I puked all over who'd brought this gift, and through my haze I saw two dark eyes before I went under. _

_He'd truly saved my life, even after I made his one pair of clothes very nasty. _

_We stayed in the cave until Prim found us once again. For a while, all I was good for was throwing up and shuddering violently, trying to eat what I could, desperate always for water. We'd used up our supply quickly, or most of it, at least, and yet he didn't seem to mind. _

_That's when we got the silent, mutal idea of being lovers. _

I woke up at that point, feeling slightly thirsty and damp with sweat, trembling a bit. Sliding into the dining area, I poured myself some water and savored the taste. It felt good and almost wrong to be able to get what I wanted so quickly...it was a nice life, that was for sure.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?" my 'lover' was suddenly there with a glass of his own, sitting beside me on the counter gingerly.

"There's a lot on my mind..." my tongue felt the raw inside of my cheek. Ever since my desperate, sick thirst for my own blood, the chewing had become an addictive habit.

"Yeah...same here," there were no camreas rolling that late for sure, so we could just be the strong friends we were, "thank you for saving me, Peeta."

"It was no problem...I couldn't let you die," he looked straight ahead, eyes glazing like my own were probably, "I have a heart, unlike those Careers."

"I know," I nodded quietly as we finished our water, "I miss Prim."

"I do, too," he hadn't known her as well, but I did know we both took her death pretty hard.

"A lot of deaths happened when I was involved in the arena..." I felt I could share this with him...he was all I had in the world now, "and even those ones they I had no part in...their ghosts haunt me. But...but hers doesn't. It's like it doesn't exist yet."

"Same here," he was silent for a moment, "Rue...do you think that she might still be alive?"

We'd watched her die so we could be together, her believing we were in love. But she was very clever and persuisive...could that really be true?

"Where was her sister when you were home?"

"She never came out of the house...I don't know if she's dead, though," his voice got thicker now as he spoke of Katniss Everdeen. He'd told me once he'd actually loved her, when the camreas were focused another place.

"I have a feeling..." I was clutching his hand now, "District 12 will be the first place to know about our uprising."

* * *

**_Prim's P. O. V. _**

Since I was a little girl, I'd always been very prone to nightmares. And the fact I had all those other 22 deaths wieghing on my mind only made them that much more terrifying. I had to get out of bed some nights, since I'd wake up shaking so violently that it'd wake up my sister.

Death haunted me. Every single one of them, and yet some were worse than others.

Mom. Dad. Thresh. Foxface. Even Cato's made me cry myself to sleep when Katniss had dropped off.

The Capitol had made me another piece in their Games. But I was still human, unlike the Careers. I still had feelings and emotions. I knew personally what it was like to lose the one you loved suddenly. I knew those parents would blame Rue, Peeta, and me, though they'd probably be glad I'd ended up dead...or so they thought.

I probably wouldn't ever show anyone I was alive. Katniss wouldn't tell if I requested she didn't, anyway...she was a trustworthy secret keeper. I'd just let those Districts think their kids were avenged to help them sleep easier.

I had a pretty strong idea for how they felt every night from those ghosts that made me cry until I was even worse off than Katniss at night.

That's when I was litterly nothing.


	4. Annoucment

Warning 4

Katniss was finally going to be okay. I'd known it from the very beginning, and now everyone else was finally starting to agree with me.

Our little secret stayed in District 12. The Peacekeepers didn't question people 'visiting Katniss', and what few knew luckily decided to help us out. I think they might still have hearts, though Madge claimed it was admiration towards me.

"Thank you," I smiled to the nice baker, the father of Peeta, as he handed us a loaf of bread and a cupcake to half between we too, "you really are an angel." He'd helped Katniss out so she wouldn't die, I'd heard, and I totally believed it.

"No problem, little surrivor," he kissed the top of my head, and I saw my big sister smile weakly, "look...word has it that Rue girl is up to something."

Rue? Well, I knew she was on that Victory Tour with Peeta, but...wait a minute. Could it be possible she had the same idea as me about an uprising? The odds wouldn't be Districts favor, of course, but that thought didn't bother me much.

The odds weren't in my favor, either, and somehow, I'd turned a little surrivor, just like Katniss.

* * *

**_Peeta's P. O. V._** (Oh yeah baby :D)

Rue wasn't so quiet...well, she was always quiet, but by the time we'd visited every District other than our own, she was practically a statue. She was pale and solem, and during the speaches her voice was soft and innocent. Oddly enough, she reminded me of Prim.

Oh, Prim. The little girl who vetoed her sister's volunteer and then died. From what I dared to ask, I learned that Katniss considered suicide. Heck, I considered it once. Just to prove I wasn't a piece in their Games.

But no. I still had to be the other star-crossed lover with Rue, and besides, I couldn't avenge her and everyone else in the afterlife.

"Here we are," she mouthed it more than said this, but I got the message: We were in District Eleven.

After being in all the other Districts that ranged in wealth and victor numbers, I knew District 11 wouldn't be much to look out. It looked kind of like an overgrown farm as dark-skinned people headed for the area where we were to speak at.

If I'd killed her, I wouldn't be able to look at her family. I could hardly look at them now...knowing I was lying, making them worry if I really was sincere. Her little silbings looked innocent, yet solem, like all their youth died when they were born. Peacekeepers were everywhere, and their mayor looked like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed on this morning...actually, it looked like he woke on the wrong side_ every _day.

"Greeting, Rue and Peeta," he spoke into the microphone, looking grim, bored, and like he wanted everyone to leave so he could be in peace again. He was an elder who obviously was as strict as she described him to be.

"Fellow District mates," she was the first one to speak, of course, and I just stood beside her as she spoke, "I am honored to be on the stage. I thank all of you for helping what you could to me, because you are the reason I am here and still alive. The ghosts...will always haunt me. Especially Primrose Everdeen...you all know she was not only an ally, but also a best friend. My only friend I'd ever had in this world...and now she's dead."

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I feel so freaking guilty now, watching her on our TV with a few other people and Katniss. She was so haunted by a ghost who wasn't created now...poor her. She was only friend in the world besides Katniss, too...I would have to tell her that someday, when we were reunited.

"And so, for that," she kept talking, and what she said made everything in all of Panema so quiet, the crickets didn't even have any chirping, "I say we should change some things. We will start an uprising, Districts. WE WILL AVENGE ALL THE DEAD!"

I'd never seen her so fired up...and my fears were confirmed. And then, so slowly and gracefully, I could imgane everyone else in every District putting three fingers to their lower lip and pushing it out to them on the screen with me and District 11.

* * *

_**Peeta's P. O.V. **_

Oh, she'd done it now...I'd always enjoyed her anibiton, even if I wasn't her real lover. But I KNEW she'd overdone it by the way the Peacekeepers dragged her back to the train.

She had the idea to struggle, and the second one slapped her sharply across the face, my first impulse was to run to her and protect her with all I had. She was still my friend, lover or not...but a sharp flip of the bird from their mayor told me to say _something_.

"Well...she's right!" I yelled out into the microphone, "President Snow...just go to hell early!"

In return, he ordered Peacekeepers five minutes later to public whip me.


	5. Public Whipping

Warning 5

_**Prim's P. O. V**_

She was tortured.

She was possibly more tortured than he was as he was whipped.

The pain contorted across as his face with every blow that was brought to his back. His wrists were constained, held out as far as they could go at his sides to make him lean forward painfully. The Head Peacekeeper just cackled, bringing blow to his back again and again with a long, bloody whip. His back was now raw and swollen, covered in red welts and bleeding heavilly.

Rue was clinging to what looked like her mother, her siblings huddled around her legs. The little family was forced to watch in all their horror, along with everyone else in the District, as the Boy with the Bread was beaten down to almost nothing.

Katniss' face was contorted in pain. She'd never really known him, but he and Rue had saved my life at the very end in more ways than they knew now. So of course she'd be very pained at seeing him beaten so bad he barely was able to breathe without looking in as much as agony as the whip came across his back.

Of course I was tortured. Scenes of the areana played in my mind as I watched, unable to tear away my gaze, scared stiff by reality. This was what happened when you rebelled against the Capitol. Heck, I was still supposed to be hanged on Snow's steps.

President Snow.

He was the reason Peeta was in such pain, agony, and cruelity now. And he was the reason for the Hunger Games, meaning he was the reason I was going to be forever haunted with my sister still being so depressed. He was the reason...

* * *

**_Katniss' P. O. V. _**

Prim looked so pale and fragile, especially now. I wasn't much help, sitting there in all my emptiness as I watched him be killed and tortured in a very unhuman way. That Peacekeeper looked like he was having the time of his life...I had to pity poor Rue.

Rue and Peeta...it didn't sound right to me. I mean, I could understand star-crossed lovers from the same District...but those two just didn't seem to fit. She was nice, nimble, and fast. He was sweet, strong, and caring. It wasn't like they couldn't be amazing friends, but the romance didn't seem to match up.

It would be like Prim and him dating.

"Katniss," she put her brillant blue eyes on me, and I could see the seriousness in her face even through my heavy layer of depression, "I have to go back."

* * *

**_Rue's P. O. V. _**

He was broken for the next couple of months.

After his public whipping and our mayor did a speech on obdientence, we ushered back onto the train. Our Victory Tour was supposed to be going to District 12 next, which was for the best. He could barely move or talk, so I found myself trying to heal him before our stylists put stuff on his wounds that would just hurt him while they tried to make him look more human.

"Rue..." he croaked at one point as I applied leaves that would ease the pain, "I'm sorry you had to see that..."

Of course he'd aplogize to me. He was that nice and good of a person...but it really was my fault. I should've been whipped, even though I wouldn't been killed my at least the tenth blow, since I was so fragile.

"It's my fault," I spoke softly in his ear, holding one of his hands in both of my tiny ones, "I'm sorry I did this to you."

"It's _his _fault," he corrected quietly, and niether of us really cared if Snow heard us then.

* * *

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I wouldn't allow her to go back to the Capitol.

Depression was fighting me with it's hardest for the next couple of months while the Victory Tour was 'postponed temparily.' She stayed with me during that time, braiding my hair and sitting in my lap like she used to. The roles were so reversed, it seemed now, and I felt like our mom...I finally understood what it was like to be hollow.

And I understood what is was like to try and come back.

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V **_

Believe me, I didn't want to leave her again. She was still so unstable...but this was my once chance to return to the Capitol and get back at President Snow. There wasn't a lot that I could do...after all, I was a little girl.

But I wasn't going to be alone.

"Promise me you'll watch over her?" of all the people I could intrust my sister with, Peeta's father and her seemed most resonable.

"I will," Madge promised me, holding out a clip, "here. You might need this...nothing bad can happen to you now."

A Mockingjay pin. For some reason, I felt like it would play a big part in my life as the train with Rue and Peeta rolled into our District.


	6. Avoiding attention

Warning 6

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I am naturally pretty short, so I had to crane my head to see them as they stepped onto the stage. District 12 didn't have a lot of visitors, so when we did, good, bad, or otherwise, we _all _came, and not all of us had to be forced into doing so.

One of the bad things, (besides the fact I can almost never see,) is that on that day I was wearing a dark brown overcoat. It hide most of my clothes, and my hair was down as I stood in some of mother's old heels. It made me look somewhat older and fuller, and yet I still couldn't see and it was getting hot in there. I had a bunch of make-up, and I had to duck my head when familiar people passed me by that didn't know of my new plan.

"Hello, District Twelve," Peeta looked like he was in pain, just from talking to into the microphone….he must've been, even with some recovery time on that train.

Rue was silent, probably told to silence herself to avoid attention by somebody. She looked so weak now, like she hadn't been very well, and her make-up was somewhat sloppy. Her stylists must've been slacking a bit….or maybe they just didn't like her anymore for disgracing the Capitol?

Whatever the reason, they looked like did during the Games. And that brought back some horrifying memories to everyone watching.

Especially to me.

I was struggling to hide my emotions. Katniss is very good at wiping her face clean of emotions completely, but whatever I feel, it always shows up on my face. No matter how hard I try, (which I've tried to practice,) I just can't seem to master whatever there is to it. I am good at looking terrified, though, instead of angry and pleased….

No doubt the cameras were scanning the audience, looking for somebody crying or shaking. They would be looking for Katniss or my mother…and if they got a look at me, my complete cover would be blown.

That's why I was trying so hard to wipe my face clean. To make myself look the least interesting thing that they could possibly get footage of. Katniss once told me the Capitol wanted entertainment from the tributes or from the audiences scanned during the Victory Tour, to see how the dead tributes' families were reacting to their loss.

I spotted a few cameras on Peeta's family, and I knew it was then I was going to have to make my move.

Softly and slinking behind other, taller people as I went, I made my way to the train. Security would be tight, considering that hungry people would try to steal, so I'd have to go around the front. The conducter would be there, of course, but if I could get past him….

"Little girl…what do you think you're doing here?" he inquired as soon as I'd come to the door in hopes of not waking him.

He was an old man with wisps of white hair on the scalp, tanned skin, and a frail figure. My heart pounded violently against my ribs as I chewed on my lower lip. If he regonized me….or thought I was a thief and called the Peacekeepers…

"I'm hungry…." The words suddenly out of my mouth, and I sounded especially tired and meek, "I need to…."

"Kid, don't play time," he grumbled, "I know you want to see the stars. Well, their busy, and you should be watching! No visiting or meeting sessions from you little kids that belong in the Capitol for your idiotness."

"But I have to meet them!" it was worth a shot, "I'll…I'll pay you!" I didn't have anything to pay for but some cookies I'd been given from Peeta's father, but he looked awful thin….

His pale green eyes showed him thinking for a moment before he sighed, accepting it, "You will get three minutes, then you will come off. Got it?"

"Yes sir," he led me….more like shoved me….into Rue's room and stalked back onto the front of the train.

Now that I was alone, I pulled off the overcoat and rebriaded my hair. I had gotten in…now all I needed to do was pray Rue and Peeta didn't have a freak attack to blow my cover when they saw me.

_XXXXXX_

Author Note: Next chapter WILL be longer, PROMISE!


	7. Reactions

Warning 7

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

They still looked hollow and lifeless as they board the train. Rue was gripping Peeta's hand as they walked away from the District, tears trying to push their way out of Peeta's eyes. The first thing he did was collapse on an oversized couch, covering his face with his hands.

"It's painful..." he choked out as she sat beside him, her own tears already have been streaming, "to see it all. That's where Prim used to live..."

"I miss her, too," I expected her to kiss him, but instead she crawled onto her stomach, letting it touch his own as she placed her head on his chest, over his heart.

Just by the way they laid, I had a feeling they just might not be _real_ star-crossed lovers. Hmmm...

* * *

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

"I'm going to go to bed...we'll be at the Capitol by morning," Rue spoke, lifting herself gingerly from me, as if she needed too. She basically wieghed nothing, but her warmth had been comforting.

The train conductor was walking around the train, grumbling about a 'stupid fangirl'. Just as I was about to ask if somebody wanted to meet us, (which a few of us had,) I heard a scream. Well, it was at least the start of the scream, and then it was muffled up into nothing. The conductor was so old he couldn't hear it, but that was enough to get me on my feet to check it out.

The scream _did_ belong to Rue.

* * *

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

"P...Preim!" my voice was muffled, since she had her hand over my mouth, but my joy was still uncontained.

She was alive. She was really, really _alive_.

"Oh my God," Peeta must've heard me scream before she'd slapped her hand over my mouth frantically, because now he was standing in the doorway, looking overcome by joy, disbelief, and curiousity.

But mostly disbelief.

"P...Primrose..." he sputtered out her full name, "you're...not a ghost?"

Grasping her hand, I started to sob my relief, "She's too solid to be a ghost, Peeta...Prim...oh my God, Prim..."

We threw our arms around each other as she soon as she lowered her hand, faces buried in each other's shoulders. She smelled of roses and sugar, just like she always did, and I felt her touch comfort me. My best friend really _hadn't _ever _really _left my side...that's why was her ghost didn't haunt me.

She didn't have one yet.

Peeta closed the door, clicking the dock and pulling down the shades. His disbelief made him walk and act a bit calmer, but the tears were streaming down his face as he did these tasks. Once he'd sat beside us on the bed edge, he wrapped two long, powerful arms around us and buried his face in our.

We ended up staying there, holding on tight to each other, and me dreaded the moment when we'd have to let go in morning light.

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

They were going to have to go meet up with their stylists, whom I knew were going to _have _to make them look astounding for the Capitol party to end their little Victory Tour. We'd fallen asleep together, Peeta holding on tight to both Rue and I, seeming to shield us from any harm, just like he'd done in the Games.

"How are you alive?" Rue finally managed to breathe out as she stared at me, eyes big and curious, as Peeta looked at me with ever-present disbelief.

I couldn't say that I blamed him.

So I went ahead and told them everything from the reason I tried to end my life for them to the present, where I'd tricked the conductor into letting me on and then hiding. I couldn't help but noticing how Peeta's face got sunken and depressed when I talked about how Katniss was letting go of life when I'd come in the coffin box, and how Rue's chest and face tightened when I spoke of how I figured out a plan watching that whipping.

"HURRY UP!" a shrill voice cut me off as I was finishing up my explanation, and Peeta sighed.

"That's our stylists," he leaned forth, giving me a small kiss on the top of the head, "we'll come back as soon as we can...don't try anything stupid."

"We can't lose you again, Primrose," Rue actually called me by my full first name as she gave me a quick neck hug, smiling waterily, "welcome home."

* * *

I was curious as to know what the rest of the train looked like, but the problem still stood as to how I was going to check it all out without being seen. Looking at my overcoat, I couldn't help but smile as I got an idea.

* * *

I was being a drunk addict.

Well, of course it wasn't _real_, but I certainly looked like Haymitch. Some strands of hair were over my upper lip, so I looked like I had a thin mustace. My hair was under a floppy hat that would be used if I was getting over a hangover, and I was in some boots to make me taller. The overcoat helped, and I smiled into the mirror loosely before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Oh yes, I looked like Haymitch, alright.

Now I just needed to not get caught by the _real _Haymitch and I'd be good as gold...

* * *

I was admiring Katniss' 'Girl on Fire' dress when I got caught.

I was tracing the amazing fabric when my overcoat was ripped off. I yelled out "Hey!" he in a deep male voice, as if that would help me as my braids fell out of the hat when it got knocked off.

"Primrose? Well, look at you," Cinna was before me, and a grin spread across my face as I hugged his neck.

Man, I'd missed him...

"I see your still alive..." his eyes shown with mischief, "let's see how you look in your sister's dress, mm?"


	8. Puppet

Warning 8

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I looked a lot more mature than twelve when Cinna was finished with me.

My hair was down in one braid instead of two, combing and french braided carefully, almost matching my mother's fingers. A little blush was on my cheeks, and my eyes were brought out with black eyes that matched them perfectly.

Best and most impressivley at all, I was in the Girl on Fire dress.

He'd fit it on me, stitching around my frame and tightening it so I looked breath taking. I was the little girl on fire. And I was as dangerous as the candlelight with my now shiny blonde hair and fierce eyes.

"I don't look like Prim," I commented with a smile to Cinna, who grinned and kissed my forehead in a brotherly way.

"Your right. You look like Primrose Everdeen, the Girl who Surrived," he took my hand and smiled, "now let's go show you off to the world."

I felt ellegant in my dark heels, walking best as I could with not a lot of practice. I kept wobbling and leaning heavilly on him, and it was a good thing he didn't mind.

The party was rocking on strong inside. As soon as we opened the door, someone screamed.

I didn't even have a chance to get anything to eat before the press surronded me, and I was too quickly back on the train, Rue and Peeta standing in front of me protectivley, as the Peacekeepers slammed shut the door to a room they'd shoved us in.

"Aw man..." I sighed, taking off my heels, "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"I'd say so," Peeta smiled weakly before giving me a big bear hug, "I'll protect you both, you little flowers."

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

Peeta called Prim and I little flowers.

We _were _named after flowers, but I didn't know why he thought we were still delicate little girls. We were still small and had thin frames, but we were stronger. The Games toughened us up, and now we were both more fighters.

Especially Prim.

_XXXXXX_

_**Prim's P. O.V. **_

When I woke up, I was pressed tightly to Peeta's side. Suddenly, I was remembering what it was like to be cuddled up to Mother, sleeping soundly and feeling like nothing could hurt me. I wish I could feel that way now.

"Hmmmm…." Rue groaned on the other side of him, and I planted a kiss on both of their cheeks before staring in a full-length mirror.

My braids were everywhere and so were my bangs, and my dress was wrinkled and torn in a few places. My eyes weren't fully awake….I looked like something the cat dragged in. Kind of like that bird Buttercup did one time after trying to eat it…poor thing….

Only I wasn't poor. I was a murderer and trickster, and I broke hearts. I was no longer little Prim who hide behind her big sister, Katniss, who was a surrivor. No, I was now Primrose, the Capitol's little puppet. The Games had turned me into something I wasn't, and had made this rose bloom forcefully.

I was Primrose Everdeen, the Girl who survived.

_XXXXXX_

As I stood in the bathroom, I marveled the work the shower had done on my frizzy and tangled hair. It was now a long, blonde cascade of locks shining down to my mid-back. Huh….it'd been a while since I'd gotten Mother to trim it….

Mother. There was no more Mother to trim it or anything like that. If I wanted a haircut, I would do it myself. The Capitol wasn't allowed to touch it.

Besides, I kind of liked the longer hair. It made me look more like Katniss, and I was going to have to act like her to live. She was fearless and a fighter, so I would have to be, too. When my hair was instantly dried, I braided it into one braid, like hers, and changed into a white blouse, gray slacks, and brown sandles.

Yes, that was better.

Peeta was up by now and was in the shower, and Rue was curled up against a million different pillows. She looked fragile, and I had a feeling I looked a lot like her when I was asleep. We _were _that much alike, after all.

That's when knuckles wrapped on our door. Peeta froze, only his towel covering him as our knocker entered and made me almost faint.


	9. The New Quarter Quell

Warning 9

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

My little sister was in a lot of trouble, and I knew it. _**  
**_

It was my fault because of it, too. I sighed as I looked at the screen, feeling all that more empty inside as I watched some Capitol women gurgle about to 'amazing and distrurbing' discovery that The Little Girl on Fire was alive. That's what they were calling her, anyway.

I brush my trembling fingers under my damp eyes once before standing up. Madge looks up in surprise, since I have not moved much since she left again.

"I have to save her," I wasn't doing my job, and know I had to go and help her out. She was still that delicate little flower to me, even though I knew the Games made her tough, and made her a fighter.

She was still my little flower.

* * *

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

I had to grip my towel tighter to keep it from falling off in my surprise at who was at the door. Rue's body stiffened, her cheeks pink against her dark skin as Prim looked like she was about to be sick. Confusion and anger took over my mind, making me snatch up my pants and yank them on.

"How are you here, bitch?" and then I had him pinned to the wall by the neck, gripping as hard as I could and not caring if I choked him.

"Thanks to President Snow," he smirked, gripping my hand and digging his nails in, trying not to look uncool for the camreas that I had no doubt that rolled this now, probably live too, "got a problem with it?"

"Yes, we do," Rue kept her distance behind me, but her eyes were fierce, and by the look on her face, she wanted to kill him there and then, even though we all knew she couldn't with her size, "as far as we're concerned, you can crawl right back into your grave."

Prim rose now, as if to come closer, but as I dug my fingers in deeper to his neck, I snarled, "Stay back! He will never touch you again."

* * *

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

I stood there now, my body rigid as I resisted the urge to rip out his eyeballs. He was back...and after the unmetionable things he did to poor Prim...

"Primrose..." I turned to look at her, and my heart dropped at the sight of her. It didn't matter if we were the same age and straight...she was in high emotional pain, and I felt like a big sister now.

Her eyes were wide, filled with big tears as her mouth was twisted into a straight, small line. She was narrowing her eyebrows at him, fists clinched to her side as she trembled violently. Either she was about to attack like me, or she was going to sob.

Or both.

"Primrose..." I reached to touch her shoulder, but she jerked back, running out of the room as fast as she could go.

Poor Prim...

* * *

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I was running as fast as I possibly could.

She was behind me, and so was he. He had been with me, even if he wasn't mentioned a lot. He was always hunting these days, and now he was with me now. Madge, however, had insisted to following us, and we reluctantly agreed to it. She wouldn't leave, anyway, and she _was _my friend.

I was ahead of both of them, not minding the leaves and twigs ripping away at my face. I was moving lightly, on hunter's feet, and so was he. She was more clumsy, but I wasn't caring at that moment. All that was on my mind was Primrose.

"So...we're going to run...all the way...to the Capitol?" Madge panted, and I shrugged. All three of us knew that was impossible, so my plan was to find someone to trick into giving us a ride.

"No," I wipe my forehead with my wrist and gaze at the forest over us as we stand on a hill, "we're going to hitchhike."

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I was hiding like a coward. That was one thing I was good at...hiding and running away.

I pressed my face to my knees, which were tucked to my chest tightly. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I sobbed silently, shaking violently as I sat in the closet where I'd found the Girl on Fire Dress. Just seeing him again completley made me snap, and now the door was locked, keeping me in there safe and sound, clinging to the dress, thinking of Katniss and not caring to calm down.

He ruined me in the Games. I wouldn't let him ruin me again. But I did have to wonder...

Why was he here?

* * *

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

"Get out..." I was dragging him out by the neck, jerking at him and dragging his feet best I could when we were squeal in size, "I said get the hell out!"

"That's against Snow's orders," he was still trying to pry off my hand with both of his, squirming a bit and yet still trying to look good, "I have to go back in that arena."

"What?" I barked out in alarm, "back? Not only are you alive, but you're going to lie again?"

"This year's the Quarter Quell," he kept batting at me, "we can go back if he wants us too."

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

"Primrose?" Cinna's voice was assuring enough to me so I could peek out of the closet, not bothering to clean up my puffy red eyes and my pale face.

"What's going on?" I asked, voice trembling with my body and congested chest.

"This year's games is the Quarter Quell," he took my hand, squeezing it firmly and frowning, "President Snow has decided that all the past victors will be reaped."

"Rue and Peeta..." I manage weakly, eyes widening as I start shaking even more violently than before, "they...?"

"And he has also decided..." he looked just as upset as I felt, "that he will come back, since he was 'almost a victor'."

"He can't do that..." but I knew he could.

* * *

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

_****_We had just learned the truth ourselves of the 75th Quarter Quell, and I was shocked. I had a feeling I looked just like Prim had the moment he came in, and my stomach was trying to reverse as my face twisted into an angry, rage-filled glare. Peeta' was already like that, and I felt my fists trying to pop the veins in my knuckles.

"You..." I snarled, "are just as bad as President Snow himself, Cato."


	10. Results

Warning 10

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I fell asleep in Cinna's arms, basically curled up in my lap. He sat in the closet with me, letting me cry it out noiselessly with the closet door shut tight. When I woke up about an hour later, he was asleep himself, looking somewhat peaceful. Smiling gently, I eased myself free of his sleep-grip and tried not to disturb him by resting my head on his chest.

Fear was overcoming me. It actually reminded me of that same intense, adrenaline-pumping, heart-racing, blood-boiling fear that I felt when I was in the arena. In the arena…the first time.

A part of me wonders if I'll be going back, too.

_**Cato's P. O. V. **_

That little girl was afraid, and that was just what I wanted. To see the fear in a victim's eyes, right before their death is coming…that's the best feeling in the world. Clove was a lot like that…hell, _all _of us Careers are like that.

When Peeta Mellerk killed me…that was only a minor setback. I came back, didn't I? And now I was going to get sweet vengeance on him, that little girlfriend of his, and Primrose Everdeen. While he had his strength and she had her cunning wits about her…I knew the Everdeen girl would be easy to finish off.

Oh, sure. She'd made it through that _merciful _torture I put her through. The damned brat deserved it…she was a fool to think she could actually make it through the Games. I'd heard she'd tried to kill herself so that her friends could…any _good _tribute, or at least any tribute even being worthy enough to _think _about being Victor…they would've killed both of them with the first thing they could grab.

So she was an idiot who would soon die my hand in that arena. I'd go after her in the bloodbath and finish her quickly, then that District 11 girl and Mellerk would be all sad and be open to attack. They'd be my second and third kills, and then I'd win.

I _would _be Victor this time. And nothing was going to change it, even the 'Girl who Survived'.

_**Peeta's P. O.V. **_

Cato left us alone after I'd all but pulled out a knife on the spot, and I about sank to the ground. Rue quickly came to my aid, bless her heart, and we sat with her in my lap, my arms around her, as we both cried. It might have been weak in…well, anyone else's eyes. But we needed something to hold onto when our world that was ever-so-slowly coming back together was being shattered all over again.

"Guys…" I don't know how long we'd stayed there, but as soon as Prim came back in, I opened one arm for her to join our embrace. I saw Cinna walking away in the hallway from the corner of my eye as she sat in my lap easily, the two of them almost fitting perfectly.

Those two had seen fire once before. And I was going to do whatever if it took for them to be safe and sound for _sure _this time.

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I have no idea how long we walked, but our hitchhike ride came very quickly.

I heard the roar of an engine behind me, and Madge all but jumped out of her skin in alarm. She was not a hunter like Gale and I, so she didn't hear the hum when whatever machine this was was far behind us. We just pretended not to notice it, trying to throw the driver off.

Obviously we failed.

I knew that the Capitol would be looking at me, the girl who went from 'The Survivor of District 12' to 'The Girl on Fire' to 'The Depressed Big Sister.' My title by morning would probably be something like 'The Girl who Ran away' or 'The _Desperate _Big Sister'.

"Katniss Everdeen," a Peacekeeper shouted at me above the roar of the helicopter blades swirling up almost half of the forest's dust/leaves and scaring off whatever game we might have tried to catch for the next probably five miles, "you are needed in the Capitol right now. Get in the helicopter and say nothing."

I turned sharply on my heel, taking off to escape the strong winds that motor gave off. If I could get further back, I could draw an arrow and pray it the winds didn't throw it off too bad. There was no way to do it right in the center of the gusts, but Gale was running forward, probably planning on using his knife. Madge was running with me, looking confused and in that constant daze she seemed to stay in all of the time. I wondered if I looked like for only a second before knotching an arrow easily, letting it fly as soon as Gale's knife caught the Peacekeeper in the stomach.

Since they have protective armor on, he was only fazed my arrow, which would've hit him the eye if it wasn't for those gusts. He fell out of the cockpit none the less, and Gale quickly swung himself in, pressing levers, instantly memorized the controls and figuring out what they did in the quickest time possible. In the meantime, Madge and I would have to serve as his distraction, or at least occupant, of our opponent. There were about eight others in the back of it, since this was Capitol-made and therefore v_ery _large, but if he would just shut off the motor….

Madge finally seemed to get the idea of what we needed to die, but she still didn't have enough wit to know not to tackle a Peacekeeper. He easily grabbed her neck, trying to snap it and only failing because my arrow caught his own throat. The moment he pulled it free, she snatched it back and squirmed free, dashing to me and placing it back in my hand.

I could feel the winds slowing down from the helicopter, so it was instantly a lot easier to tell if I could get in a good shot. As I lock my aim on the first one we confronted, I have no regret about killing him with a clean shot in the eye until the human feelings set in later.

And he was only my first kill among six in that little part of the forest.

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

The news came on later that day about Katniss killing six Peacekeepers, and it looked like she was on her way to somewhere important. But by the timethe two living Peacekeepers got any backup, not only had she knocked them out, but taken off in their helicopter with her cousin (Gale) and an unknown. (Madge.)

My heart swelled up, only partly from relief. The good news was that Katniss was going to be okay, and she was showing that to me now. The bad news was that she was more than likely coming to see me, not to have tea with President Snow. That would be dangerous now, and even though she knew it, I knew there was no stopping her now.

President Snow would not be pleased…at all….

And speak of the devil, that's when he appeared on the TV screen. He smirked a little bit, putting the tips of his fingers together in front of his chin and looking at the camera wisely.

"Our camera crew has received all of the footage of the Quarter Quell Reapings," he purred, "and they have prepared a documentary."

There was no need to show anything for Cato…we already knew _that _news. And after District 11's male reaping, (we all figured Rue would be in, anyway,) he turned to the camera and purred, "Peeta Mellerk has taken the role as male tribute in place of Haymtich Abernathy…" This never took place, "And now it is for the female tribute to decide on. Since District 12 has never had a female victor, we have decided to let you, the people of Panem, vote on who will go this year. You're options are Primrose Everdeen…" He paused, then said a name that made me burst into tears all over again:

"Or Katniss Everdeen."

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

Almost of all of us stayed up all night that night, trying to calm poor Prim back down and assure all would work out in time. But speak of the devil when we got the results:

Katniss Everdeen was going into the arena after all.


	11. New fates

Warning 11

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

The shiny new buildings and gleaming atmosphere told me that I was in the Capitol, and Gale nodded once to me once as we switched seats. He'd been 'driving' half the time, and I didn't trust myself enough to land the stupid helicopter on my own. I wasn't sure where to land, but I figured it'd help to get close to the train. That's where they'd more than likely, since the Quarter Quell was coming up and it was likely that Snow would bend the rules so that at least _one _of them suffered again.

But it would _not _my little flower. I'd see to that personally.

As soon as I practically leaped out of the machine, I am caught by what seems to be every Peacekeeper that ever had. I struggled instantly, reaching for my bow and arrows but finding both of them taken. I am fighting for all my worth against them, though a part of me says it's hopeless as they carry me towards President Snow's mansion.

I wondered where Gale and Madge were as I was thrown onto the front steps…and greeted by the devil, President Snow, himself.

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I was already waiting for her in his office. He'd decided he _had _to speak with the 'Girl who Survived', and that gave me a very unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach. This man had the power to kill me in a heartbeat if he chose to do so…it was then it dawned on me that I was truly screwed.

"Ah, here we go," he finally turned around to face me in his big, expensive-looking chair, having been turned away ever since I was dragged in from the Peacekeepers and sat down by force, "there's the Runaway."

So that was her new title. She didn't looked too thrilled about it, either, as she sat down. It was against every fiber in my being not to hug her, to crawl in her lap and hold on until the end of time came. No, I couldn't do that in front of a man with no heart. That would just have to wait when we were back on the train….well, if she came back to the train with us. There was still a chance she'd be in prison for passing the 'electric' fence that surrounded District 12, after all, and that's one possibly I didn't like to think about.

"You two have been making the news a lot recently, hmm?" Snow spoke to us, giving us his famous snake grin and taking a frosted cookie off the plate on his desk, "oh, don't just stare at the cookies, Primrose. Go ahead, help yourself. I think we could become friends, yes?"

I didn't know how to respond at all, so I went ahead and took a cookie and started to nibble on it. Since he was eating them too, it wouldn't be poisoned, but still….maybe he'd made them so only the ones he took didn't poison him. Or maybe he was immune to it…with all of these chances, I was only going to eat a little bit of one. Katniss seemed to know that, too, but she didn't take one, even when he offered one.

"Why are we here?" her face was completely expressionless, and I tried to not show that awed me. When I did that, it looked like I was scared instead of determined, like she did.

"I wanted to inform you, Katniss Everdeen," he looked straight into my sister's eyes, "that you be participating in the 75th Annual Hunger Games this year."

"Me?" she demanded, body going rigid as her eyes flashed dangerously towards our 'leader', "why me?" I knew she didn't mean she preferred me to go, but I could certainly understand her confusion.

I was still trying to get over the shock myself.

"Well, you two girls are obviously both still living," he took a sip from his tea cup, like we were just talking about weather rather than our fates, "and the people of Panem love to see drama, yes? I had them vote on which one of you two would enter the arena this year, and they decided on you, Miss Everdeen. And you, Primrose…."

When he looked at me, chills raced up and down my spine, his eyes already telling me that my life was going to suck, real soon, real quick, "You will be trained as a doctor. I have seen how much of healer, so you will be treating Peacekeepers will your sister is away. If she returns, you two will be granted access to Victor's Village in District 12 and go on about your lives. If she does not return, however, you will continue to work as a Capitol doctor and that will be that."

By the way he smirked after he said it faintly, I had a haunting feeling he would see to it she didn't win.

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

So I was finally going to meet the great Katniss Everdeen Prim had told me so much about. I wasn't nervous so much about _her_, but how well she'd take the news of her going into the arena this year. The date the Games would take place was in a week, and Peeta and I both weren't ready to go back and we never would be.

"So…do you know Katniss?" I asked him as we waited in my room for the two to return from talking to the devil.

"Yeah…I kind of like her," he blushing quite a bit, and I chuckled softly. He'd always had a soft spot from Prim, so it only made since he'd be in love with the older version of her.

"I see," I nodded, "any reason why?"

"Well…she's really beautiful," he looked across the room, and I imagined he thinking of her in vivid detail, "she's brave, and she went to hunt in the woods so her family could survive after her and Prim's dad died, you know? She's really brave, and one time…."

He told me about the time he'd given her bread, even though his mom almost killed him because of it, and I touched my heart. He really _was _a sweetheart, and if she was tough as he described her, I could see them being a couple. And that was coming from someone who'd never even _met _the girl.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

I was angry. I was very, very angry that she would be going into that damned arena.

Why _her_? I knew she could survive and make it back home, but still. Prim had already gone through Hell, and now she had to do that, too? I was steaming in the room they'd put me in, punching holes in the wall and cursing out loud without caring if _they_ were bothered by it.

"Gale?" suddenly someone else was in the room, and I caught myself just before I punched her as hard as I could in the face. It was Madge, looking scared to death as she stood in my doorframe…how the hell had she pick my lock?

"What?" I snarled, turning back around so I could put another new hole into the wall.

"You need to calm down," she'd caught my wrist and slowed down the next punch, and I jerked away, snarling and glowering at a girl who was kind of my friend.

"Calm down? President Snow is going to kill my Catnip and you want me to _calm down_!" I had a sudden urge to knock her out, but if she got that memo, she didn't care as she held onto my wrist once more, trying with her all to pull me away from the wall by tugging on my waist.

"Yes, I do! They'll kill you if you destroy this room…literally!" she hissed in my ear in a voice that sharp and demanding, and I was so surprised by it, I finally stopped my insane fit of anger.

"Thanks Mad," I breathe out, struggling to regain my composure as I sighed at the wall before looking to her thankfully, "that was…"

"I understand," she pats my shoulder, and I finally smile again, just a little.


	12. A blur

Warning 12

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

Even though I am assured that I would like Katniss and that she would like me, I am still feeling shy about meeting a girl who just might mean the difference between life and death for me in a couple of weeks. I am still perched on the bed edge when she comes in…rather, is thrown in by a couple of Peacekeepers. Prim scurries in behind her, and I have a feeling the only reason Katniss was thrown in was because she refuses to go anywhere because President Snow wants her too. I don't blame her one bit, and I smile a bit, knowing she has a rebellious way about her as soon as I see the fire in her eyes.

"Hi," I wave shyly to her, offering my hand kind of cautiously to this new girl, even though I know I don't have to be afraid…not yet, "I'm Rue."

"I'm Katniss," she gives me an expressionless look, one that has no nonsense about it and shows she's as tough as Peeta called her just with her eyes.

"Remember me?" he asks softly, shyly, and I have to smile weakly at the nervousness tinting his voice. Poor thing is girl shy…but really, who wouldn't be shy in front of a girl who'd come this far and was still fighting?

"Peeta Mellerk," they lock eyes, and I have a feeling they are remembering that night he threw her the bread. I decide they might need a minute alone and slip off of where I was sitting, exiting quietly with Prim.

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

So she did remember that night….

My heart starts racing even faster than it usually does when I see her anytime, anywhere. Could she have feelings for me, too? Probably not…She doesn't seem like one to want to be indebted to people. I probably just irritated her in the end by making her debt to me…jeez, what had I done?

"Thanks for that," and suddenly she wraps her arms around my neck tightly, patting my back two times and pulling away quickly. It's the most affection I've ever seen from her…we didn't really talk before Prim made a surprise appearance, except for our little act on 'acting' like I loved her.

Then she begins to leave. I am frozen in place for a minute in shock before I go after her briskly, taking her shoulder gently but firmly.

"Where are you going?" I ask, and she tries to slid her shoulder free of my grip, which only makes me tighten it.

"To find Prim and get the hell out of here," that's when it hit me: She probably hates the Capitol/Hunger Games more than Rue or I did, maybe even Prim, since she was so forgiving.

They'd put her little flower in trouble, and she'd almost died.

And now Katniss was probably going to die and she knew it. Snow didn't like her or her sister…they didn't have a fighting chance. None of us did….And that's when it hits me. If I was going to get her love me until we died, (however soon that may be,) I had to act _**now. **_

I pin her against the wall, kissing her lips as passionately as I could until she finally startes kissing back.

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

When Rue peekes in from where we were chatting softly in the next room, which was just a vacant bedroom, she tells me she saw Katniss and Peeta having a makeout session. That's when we both decided they would be busy for a while and that would we leave them to all that.

We curl up under the thick blankets like only two best friends can do, closing our eyes and drifting off to sleep. She drops off before I do, and I notice we two in the mirror as I get sleepier. We look so much alike it's scary, and I smile to her gently. Her cheek is pressed to mine, and we both look so fragile and breakable, I have to sigh. Nothing at all like my sister…

I had a vivid dream that night.

"_And the winner of the 75__th__ Annual Hunger Games is…." I am watching the TV screen eagerly, expecting my sister to see my sister in the victor's place and gasping when I see who it is, "Peeta Mellerk!" _

"_Peeta…where is Katniss?" I gasp, running up to him as soon as he returns to the train, and he looks at me with sad eyes. _

"_I had to kill her, remember?" realization hit me then: He would kill her if he came home, and if he killed her….he'd also killed Rue. _

_I start to sob and shake violently, and he picks me up, making me flinch and squirm away desperately. He scowls and stalks off, leaving my broken soul and heart all over the carpet and the tears stain the pink color till it's red. _

I wake up sobbing just as hard with the thought in my end that Katniss was dead until I realized it was Rue calming my sobs, rubbing my stomach and arms soothingly, cradling me just a bit in comfort and hugging me tight. I am too spooked to sleep the rest of the night, so I keep my head in her lap, letting her play with my hair lovingly as the dream and horrible thoughts kept my eyes open throughout the night's duration. She was a true sister figure to me, and I dreaded morning light that we include us not cuddling like this, sharing in each other's fears, worries, and stories to keep us both not freaked out _all _night.

Around 4 AM a realization hits me.

_**Gale's P. O.V. **_

I wake up with another pressed beside me.

"Madge?" I moan softly, but I'm so still so tired and worn out, my voice is barely hearable, even to myself, so I know she didn't hear me.

I look at her through bleary eyes, yawning widely and as softly as I can as I scratch my side lazily. I don't remember having a make-out session with her or anything…weird. Maybe she had a nightmare or somethin' and just ended up in her. Besides the fact she kept me from tearing apart my room, I don't remember last night. At all, really…it's just a blur.

I dress in a plain t-shirt and some jeans as quietly as I can, not wanting to wake her but not caring if she saw me in my boxers. What would it be to her, anyway? She probably will be as bleary as I am about life by the afternoon, or at least by tomorrow.

She is waking up as I leave to go get some of the Capitol-style breakfasts they serve every morning, (which I don't know how they make that much food in one morning,) and I leave her to decent herself. Like I said, she'll be half dead too when she comes in. Maybe a shower could've helped my cause, but it's whatever. I don't care about anything anymore…Katniss is probably not going to make it. Snow will see to that personally and we all know it.

The person who comes in next is Prim, which kinda surprises me. I figured she'd be awake long before I was, but she was probably up all night with Rue. Sure enough, Rue is behind her, and both of them look exhausted.

I am waken right up by who comes in next, and I'm not sure why aren't. I would kill him if I didn't die doing it…"Snow," is all I can growl as the two young girls turn to face him themselves, Rue looking alarmed and scared but Prim looking surprisingly calm and down-to-business-like.

"Sleep well, all?" he purrs, taking a sip from his coffee and looking like animal ready to pounce, killing it's prey easily as he peers over the light steam rising from inside the cup.

And then little Prim, who used to be so scared of her own shadow and is obviously not much of a killer threat, says, "I volunteer as tribute."


	13. The final rule change

Warning 13

Author Note: Hello, all I have some news: Please check out my story **District Zero **and review. I would love for it to have the most reviews in the Hunger Games fandom, and we've got 2, 331 reviews to beat to get there! Please, spread the word! :D

And ENJOY! ;)

_XXXXXXX_

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

"Oh?" Snow arches an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his old, wrinkled face, as if he anticipated this happening, "I see….but my dear Primrose, the vote has been casted and decided. I can not allow you're volunteering for your sister's place."

"I don't care about the vote," her light blue are darkened down, which kind of freaks me out, since her statement made me jerk fully awake v_ery _fast, "I want to go back in the arena. I will give them all a show."

"I see, I see…." He muses, stroking his chin and thinking for an endless five minutes, "I'm sure you will. Well, I must go attend to some business. I will be sure to inform the Capitolites of your offer, Primrose."

No doubt there were cameras rolling, and now there were more likely cameramen rejoicing at the footage they just captured on what is probably live TV. These Capitol people make me sick….they're excited because we're on our way to gather the tributes for the 75th Hunger Games.

"Wait a minute, Snow," I shout after him, "if she volunteers for Katniss….I volunteer for Peeta!"

By the way he pauses for a moment, no doubt smirking like an evil snake's smirk, I know he's heard me, though he doesn't reply. When I turn back to Prim, her eyes are once again wide and the same pure blue color they usually are, (or where back in District 12,) reminded everyone she is still a young girl, turning thirteen in just a week. Rue's eyes are the same as she clutches her best friend's arm, and she is the only one to find her voice.

"Why?" she whispers, sounding younger than thirteen, and I sigh.

"How different can it be? Killing humans instead of game, I mean," I turn my back to them, not being able to bear their big, innocent child eyes, facing the fact that if I go, I'll kill them off easily.

I brush past Katniss in the doorframe as I lock myself in my room for another fit of rage.

**Katniss' P. O. V. **

One of the two most important people in my life was going to die: Prim or Gale. And it was all because of this cruel Games. I could feel my heart being ripped out of my ribs when Prim volunteered for _me _this time, and when Gale did the same for Peeta, I am in utter shock. He won't even look at me as he goes to blow up in his room, no doubt.

"Prim…." I walk to her, body rigid, depression yanking at my soul and heart, trying to pull me back into it's darkness and hopelessness.

But for now I am strong enough to deny it.

She stares at me, her face that is described only as beautiful turned into a big frown. Her lips are almost pouting, how her lower lip is stuck out just a little further than her upper one, and through all that is happening and what is about to happen, I still find her adorable. Nothing at all like me, who people classify as tough as nails and a survivor. She is _my _little sister, and no matter what happens to us, I will always adore her because she is the only one I will allow myself to love.

"Tuck that tail in, Little Duck," my voice sounds low and grave, murdering my attempt at soothing her, and a tear splatters her pale, ghostly white cheek as I reach behind her and tuck in the ducktail her white blouse, the one she on the reaping day, is forming.

"Katniss…." Her voice tone matches mine with a hint of a sob on the tip of her tongue, and I lower myself to one knee, wrapping arms around her.

"Shhh…." I mumble in her ear, untangling her blonde hair in my fingers as we embrace like we've done for so many years, "shhhh….you're going to be alright. Everything's going to be okay."

But we both know I'm lying.

**Rue's P. O. V. **

Tears are pouring from my eyes now as my heart cracks in several places. Prim was going to die for sure now…President Snow would surely see to that, if not by the other tributes, by the Gamemakers. I find myself sinking to my knees as Katniss holds her, and that's when Prim's blue eyes meet my teary brown ones.

She extends her arm, offering for me to join the hug, but another set of arms wrap arm me first. I see his soft brown eyes and hiccup my silent tears, and he takes Prim tiny hand in his not-so-tiny one. He locks as with Katniss, and he looks like he's asking for permission, but for something else.

Forgiveness.

But she hides her eyes in her little sister's shoulder, looking like she just switched roles with her. Even though it's she's strong, Katniss is still a girl who is terrified to love anyone. Is Prim really the only one she'll let herself trust fully with her heart?

I turn back to his chest, sinking into it best I could when it had hardened from the arena with muscle and grief, and he secured me to it. We sat there for who knows how long, feeling each other's warmth, not caring we were no doubt being filmed. All the matters is that my big brother was going to keep me safe…whether he was in that arena or not.

**President Snow's P. O. V. (**This should be fun**) **

Yong Primrose Everdeen, the Girl who Survived, going back into the arena with Gale Hawthorne, a boy who is just out of the grasp of the regular year's limitations and who is the best friend and lover of Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire and the Runaway.

How exciting….

Then again, the Capitol people want a good show. There is no qualms about it….if Primrose and Gale Hawthorne go into the arena, they will quite a sight to see, and if we were watch Katniss break down….that would be quite amusing to see. However, if Katniss Everdeen goes in with her best friend and probable lover, that would interesting when their lives are in the Gamemakers' mercy, as well as my own.

And I am not above killing them all.

Either pair would prove for an exciting game. Young Rue Kelk is a past Victor and the youngest District 11 has ever had. Not like they've had that many to put in the Reaping bowl to begin, of course. And then Peeta Mellerk was large and muscular, and he and Rue passed off as the star-crossed lovers that begged for a slight rule change the previous year.

But they had not done enough. They had not made me believe it because it is simply not true. Why, I even have voice recordings to prove my previous theory. And yet they are quite popular among my fellow Capitalites, so I would hold off on their deaths.

It was confusing to I as well as Senca Crane, my appointed Head Gamemaker. I have consulted him, and he made the wise choice of leaving it up to me. And I have finally made a choice that will ensure a fitting punishment for all of them trying to defy me as well as delight our Capitol people.

I flip the switch on my video camera to **Broadcast **and recline in my chair as I announce the glorious newest rule change. Oh yes….I am brilliant.

**Prim's P. O. V. **

"….any siblings from the previous Victors shall be reaped in small Reaping bowl by themselves. In addition, as you just saw, Primrose Everdeen as volunteered for Katniss Everdeen's spot in the Games, and Gale Hawthorne has done the same for Peeta Mellerk's place. So, in compromise, they will all enter the arena, seeing as Hawthorne is the….ah, "Girl on Fire's," cousin, and she has no other sibling than Primrose."

I was going to break down for sure now.

Like Katniss, Rue, Peeta, and Gale, even I knew why he did such a thing to us. He wants us all to die, to pay for defying him. And death is the only way he knows how to make us pay, in the most gory way possible. Tears are streaming down our faces at this point, even from Peeta's.

I think about Gale and his three siblings. Rory, Vick, and Posy…any of them might be set up for death. Rue has six other siblings….the youngest is five, if I remember correctly. Peeta has an older brother, and I have Katniss.

And we are all going die….

I feel something deep in the pit of my gut suddenly. Bravery…and anger. A deep, deep anger and hatred for the Capitol. I will _never _forgive them or President Snow…that is a fact.

No, I will not die. No mater what, I can't die. We will all come home…and we will all start an uprising.

_XXXXXXX_

Author Note: Whoa, Prim! You're growing up so fast….and don't forget to check out **District Zero **and tell me how this chapter was

And may the odds be _ever _in their favors….


	14. That First Night

Warning 14

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

I know I've seen it all before, but I still can't help but be a little starry-eyed when we pull up to the Capitol. None of the other tributes are very impressed….none of them wanted to come back to this place….ever. They much preferred their own Districts, even if they were dangerous to live in, and I can't say I disagree most of the time.

But still, everything there is so _clean_….

After we are once again scrubbed, plucked, shaved, trimmed, waxed, and smoothed out to perfection by our stylists, I am led to the wardrobe by my stylist. She suddenly has pulled something over my head, and I in total darkness as she dresses me. I'm not sure why until the bag that she had me blinded with is lifted.

She'd pierced my ears and belly button, and if I couldn't see it, I couldn't anticipate the pain and start fighting her. I was wondering why until I realized what she had me in.

A gray t-shirt that only came down to just above my bellybutton, showing off the bone-shaped rod. My jeans were dark blue and ripped, like I'd been in fights. My hair was everywhere in a way that complimented my bad girl look, and my boots had heels in the back, with made me look totally evil.

Like a girl who would kill.

"But what does this have to do with my District?" I inquired, and she shrugged, brushing up the makeup on my cheeks.

"Nothing. But it's a Quell….why not have fun?" for the rest of our time together, all I could do was stare at myself in the mirror….

And imagine how ridiculous I was going to look compared my district partner.

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

Though the thought sickens me constantly to know I'm going back in the arena, I am glad to work with my stylists again. I'm not beautiful like Katniss naturally, even though they all claim my face is sweet like a raindrop and as lovely as the primrose I am named for. Well, that's what Katniss said, and they all simply agreed with her.

"You are an adorable little thing…" Flavious coos over me as they all crowd around my now long blonde hair, braiding into one braid down my back in the way mother always did.

I hope my makeup is waterproof, because I might just end up crying before this night is over.

The second I lay eyes on Katniss, fear strikes down deep into my heart as I take a couple of small steps away from her. The dark make-up on her face, the red-black outfit, the way her eyes flicker dangerously as the lights dim, making it look like she was burning right into the heart of the flames. She was the Girl Burning in the Embers….she was breathtaking.

"Katniss…." I breathe out, actually finding myself trembling in her presence, "you…."

But now her own eyes widen as she gazes at me, and I raise an eyebrow. I haven't looked at my own wardrobe yet, since it would bring back the terrible memories of went I went through last year. But now Cinna walks over, looking satisfied and proud, as the lights dim once more and he turns me to the mirror.

I am no longer Prim.

Now I am a fearless women, covered in black soot and artificial burn marks that they somehow made took tough and stylish all at the same time. My braids is out with the end looking like it was singed off, and my face is slightly pink, as if it was burned, and the heavy dark eyeliner makes me look like I was up too many nights. My outfit is ripped in several places in a way that somehow complements my figure, such as their being more in soot-covered white shirt, like the mine cut me more because I was short. I look like I am tough as nails, as if I've emerged from a long day in the mine and taken the toll of a heavy, fire-filled battle.

I am the Girl who Started the Fire.

_**Madge's P. O. V. **_

Since I am not in the Games, (I am not sure if I'm supposed to be grateful or depressed, since my friends are and are all likely to die,) I am supposed to be going back to District 12 right after the Chariot Ride. They have decided not to punish me severely, since they obviously figured I was just following Katniss and Gale. They don't think I'm strong, and I'm not, not like those two are. But I have a feeling a difference….somewhere, somehow.

Just not here, like them.

I am watching from the front seats of the thousands of bleachers holding Capitol fans who are going insane with excitement as soon as the first Chariot enters. I scowl and wave with my two middle fingers to Cato, who is wearing a shiny medal-like outfit that shines gold, silver, bronze, and a lot of light that almost blinds us all. His white smile shows someone who is fearless, someone who is living the high life. He outshining his fellow District mate, who is obviously young and meek-looking in her outfit that is a lot less dim than is. It's obvious who's getting a lot of sponsor points….

I'm not really paying attention until District 11's tributes come rolling in. I know the little District 11 girl, Rue, was Prim's best friend and ally last year, so of course I'll pay attention to her. She looks like a rebel with some glam to her, and she is much darker than I remember her last year. Her district partner is large, looking like he was about thirty, and I have faint sense of deju view of Thresh.

Oh, poor Thresh….

Any thoughts of them _died _when I saw Gale, Peeta, Katniss, and Prim.

Katniss and Peeta were breathtakingly dangerous, staring straight ahead, as if the entire audience was beneath them. I shouted out their names with everyone else, but I doubt they heard me in tremdous uproar the crowd was now giving. Gale was behind them, looking like he was slightly sweaty and nervous but hiding it somewhat well. He looked like he'd just come from the mines, which, in fact, he had been working down there before all this happened, since he was nineteen years old now. Prim resemlbed him him in that way, but by the way she looked so idpendent, so fierce in the face of of Panem….

I knew Cinna was telling them that she was the Start of the Fire of the Rebellion.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

"Guys!" Madge was struggling against the Peacekeepers as all of the tributes were lead to the Training Center, where our new home was for a couple of days, "guys!"

I shook my head at her, staring straight and feeling more angry than anything else. I never wanted to go through that in my life, and I just had. The President's speech echoed in my head as we kept walking stiffly.

"_You all look magnificent, I must admit. This year's Quell will sure to be outstanding, yes? I am expecting great things from all of you this year, and may the odds be ever in your favor." _

He was staring at us obviously, the District 12 tributes, and trying not to scowl. He hated all of us, and it is pretty darn horrible when the _President _hates you. It's even worse when the president who is not above killing children or anyone else in the blink of an eye with his snake-like smirk on his face in the enitre time.

"You guys were brillant!" Madge know shouts as she's thrust outside, "I know you'll win! I JUST KNOW IT!"

And just like that, she is gone. Kind of like my life will more than likely be in a couple of days.

When we are all but shoved into our HUGE room, my breathe abonds me. I knew the Capitol was luxirous and as different than District 12 than it can possibly get, but still. I guess I wasn't expecting to be so big and….

Good grief, everything was so _clean_.

Since there are normally only two tributes, there are only two rooms with the highly fancy beds. Since the other tributes' extra roomates would be waiting for them in their rooms and such, I guess they decided it wouldn't be a big deal if the siblings shared a bed. Either that, or they really didn't care.

I was _not _sharing a bed with Bread Boy.

Prim quietly went into the girls' room and emerged a few minutes later was a green blouse on as well as skinny blue jeans that were faded. She looked better in that, honestly, with her make-up washed off and her hair in two braids once again. She looked more like the little Primrose that left us behind one year ago almost a month.

But she was also the little Primrose that surrvived the Hunger Games, even if she didn't win them.

I strip out of my ridicolous outfit myself, changing into a plain white t-shirt and a pair of blue-jean shorts, thinking, _This is the real me. Be afraid, Capitol. _

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I eat very little, even though we have enough food to feed the entire nation and everybody leave very full and overstuffed, and I feel proud of Prim for obviously not overdoing it, even when I never told her not too.

Speaking of Prim, she is mostly just staring at her plate. She has eaten, and while she looks hungry, she refuses to take more than one bite of what was served to her. I move over to sit beside her at the long table as Effie tries to keep the mood light with casual chat, but it is not long before she finally gives us. None of us will ever relax until the uprising is finished and won.

"Hey, Little Duck," I keep my voice low and soothing, and she looks up at me with those big blue eyes that still hold innocence and promise, "it's going to alright, okay? I promise that."

She just nods once and wraps her skinny arms around my middle, pressing her face into my chest. Peeta smiles a little at the two of we, no doubt thinking we were cute, just like Effie squealed out now. Haymitch and Gale, on the other hand, are drinking some sake, which doesn't surprise me.

This all will not doubt push all of us to our breaking points.

_XXXXXXX_

Lights out has come now, and it's certainly taken long enough. All the four of us just want this day to be over now, anyway. I pull on the first thing that was in my closet for sleeping, which was a long sleepshirt with the picture of a moon of it. I crawl in the bed that was probably supposed to mine, and I see Gale laying down on the floor in the main room. Of course he wouldn't share a bed with Peeta…

"Gale," I don't bother whispering….none of us will be able to sleep much tonight, "you can't sleep on the floor."

"It's as comfortable as the beds, Catnip," he replies with a small smirk, and he's probably right, but still.

"Come on, you can sleep with Prim and I tonight," the beds are big enough to hold about seven people in District 12 and everyone have enough room to turn and be comfortable, anyway.

He comes without a fight, which kind of surprises me. I thought he might be a little hiesatant about having to share the bed with my little sister, but niether of them really seem to mind. I recall how Prim often sat in the bed with the injured who would possibly make it through the night as I slept in mother's bed with her, and even though it was rare, I guess it didn't bother her like it did me back then. At least I know Gale beforehand, and I guess the only bad part is that all he is wearing is his boxers.

We somehow manage to get a little sleep, and I am the first to rise. I actually find myself smiling as I look at the two them: One of his arms was around me when I woke, but the other was wrapping around her, and she was pressing into him, looking somewhat peaceful.

And now I know he will protect her….even if it costs him his life.


	15. Affects

Warning 15

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

I wake up before the sun does, which is pretty normal for me. I did that even before I went into the Games for the first time….it was kind of a rule in District 11. My little sister is up by now as well, and she is exploring the room quietly, being mindful of my District partner, Chaff. He's an only child, but he's not much better off than the rest of us, considering he lost an arm in the first Hunger Games he participated in and won. He's old friends with Haymitch, so I'm hoping to get an alliance and pray Haymitch will get us all sponsors.

"Rose, where are you going?" my voice is a hushed whisper, and she looks up, not looking surprised to see me awake.

"I just want to look the Capitol really good before…." She trails off, and I quickly go to her, hugging her tightly and stroking her hair lovingly.

"You're not going to die; I won't let you," I promise in her ear, and she is quickly reassured. She fully believes in me….and I love that and kind of hate it, too.

I mean….to know someone fully depends on you…it bothers me sometime. If something happened to me….then her life would more than likely end. My parents were back home with my other four siblings, and Rose is my second youngest sister. She's only seven….and it bothers me to think she has to go in an arena so young in life….

"I love you, Rue," she whispers in my ear, and I rub her small gently, lovingly.

"I love you, Rosie," I coo back, and I feel her relax completely now at this reassurance I give her pretty much every day.

I lay her sleeping form on the bed, tucking the covers underneath her and quietly slipping into the hallway. I'm almost positive that nobody will be awake this hour….so I go to the main floor and walk silently to the balcony. Sunlight is thinking a little about coming over the horizon, so a dim, orange light is currently stretching across the sky in a line.

There is a pinto there, mostly for decoration, but I was dying to know if it worked. Walking over, I press a key uncertainly, smiling widely when a note emerged from it that was high and lovely, like a raindrop. Seating myself at the bench, I begin to play a beautiful, haunting tune my mother taught me when I was young.

The pinto was the only thing our family held dear to ourselves. We'd gotten it from the mayor for being some of hardest workers, as a reward…..it was before our current one, who is just _mean_. At any rate, Mom and I loved that pinto the most out of anyone, and at least once each week, we'd both play songs together while my other little siblings and father listened approvingly. People from the District often came by as well to hear it….I loved to sing to the tunes as Mom played when we did so, as well.

It was what gave me hope.

"Deep in the meadow….under the willow…." I hear a soft, high, beautiful singing voice that would nicely compliment mine sang, and I turn around, pausing the Meadow Song to look at her.

"Couldn't sleep?" I inquire to my best friend, and she slides beside me on the bench, since we both easily fit onto it with room to spare.

"Nope," she shakes her head, swinging her feet nervously as I turn to face her, "I really don't want to go back."

"Then why did you volunteer in the first place?" I already know the answer to this, though.

"Because I wanted to keep Katniss safe….she's always done that for me…." Tears form in her big, innocent blue eyes, "but….because of me….everyone is in so much danger…."

I wrap my thin arms around her, pulling her close as she buries her face in my shoulder, "Shh….Prim, it's okay. It's okay."

And that's when I realize we are not the only ones awake now. Katniss is coming in with a mug of hot chocolate, sipping it as she watches us silently. Gale is at her side with his own cup, and they are curiously watching. They both know we're best friends….it was obvious from last year's Hunger Games. And by the look on Katniss' face, she knows that I will continue to protect her little sister…no matter what it takes.

I can tell it upsets and pleases her.

Prim just has something about her that makes pretty much everyone love her and want to hug her, tell her it was all okay, and then protect her as much as you can. Katniss knew that, but I could tell she didn't want to put anyone at risk, even if it was to protect the one that she would easily die for herself. Both of them felt that way, I could tell….

It didn't mean Gale, I, Peeta, or anyone else like that would ever stop trying.

"Prim…don't bother Rue," she speaks, her voice firm but gentle at the same time, and she instantly sits up to look at her older sister.

"Sorry….but she's amazing at the pinto," my best friend says, looking towards me with admiration, and I smile back at her.

"Thank you. It was…the only thing that my family really had that gave us and our Districts some kind of hope," I confess, "you can sing really good too, Prim. You could be famous in the Capitol."

"I'm okay," her pale cheeks become pinker, "but Katniss is an _amazing _singer."

"Really?" even from only knowing her a little bit, I didn't really assume her as the 'singing' type, but I tried to keep an open mind, "would you mind if I heard?"

Katniss looks to Gale now, as if waiting for his approval on what she should do. He nods once with a small smile playing on his lips, "Well, I've heard before. You _are _amazing."

I t urn to the pinto, beginning the tune for the Meadow Song once more. She hesitates for a few moments before singing a voice so low, so soothing, so beautiful, I stumbled on a few of notes in surprise. When Prim joined her on the last chorus and verse, they sounded so beautiful, I had to stop playing.

"That was absolutely…just….wow," I clap for them with Gale softly, trying not to wake any others more than we probably already had.

Gale wraps his arm around Katniss in approval as Prim smiles widely, and that's when a voice completely breaks the mood….and probably another piece of Primrose's soul.

"Well, I've heard worse,"

_**Cato's P. O. V. **_

I can only smirk as their heads all snap to me, the Runaway Girl looked enraged instantly and her little boyfriend's grip tighten on his sword's handle. They obviously couldn't stand me already…..but I don't really give a crap about them. They'll be easy kill, even if they _are _hunters.

I'm a killer.

The District 11 little thirteen-year-old girl was staring me down hard, her face pretty much emotionless. Huh…and I thought that little weakling was supposed to be cheerful. Just like that little sneak from District 12, one of the first kills of this year's Games, the little rebel.

Poor, helpless, stupid Primrose Everdeen.

That dumb blonde little girl was frozen stiff, staring straight at me like the District 11 child. I smirk wider as I walk up to her, patting her head. I see the other two stiffen behind me with the corner of my eye, but I discard it. They're just going to get angry, and then they'll be reckless, and then they'll be bloodbaths in the end.

"What's wrong, little girl?" I growl in her ear, "afraid I have another bug zapper with me?"

I relish the memory of torturing her like I did. Serves her right for thinking she even _possibly _having a chance against me…she wasn't as tough, or brave, or strong as she thought she was.

Idiots weren't needed in the Games. Only winners are.

Suddenly, sharp is drilling into my lower back. Grunting a little bit, (I've had sharper in my lifetime,) I turn around quickly and try to disarm my attacker. But she is quick, flipping the knife up and having her partner catch him, them him drill it into my gut. Groaning a little louder, I manage to catch him in the side of head with a pretty good blow, making him stumble to the side. The knife slices my clothed shirt, stabbing down deep in the pinto side, right beside the first key was.

Before all Hades can break loose, I hear a surprised gasp from the direction of the elevator, "That is MAGHONY!"

Rolling my eyes, I free the knife and throw it past the Runaway Girl's head, scowling before smirking coolly, "You're Primrose's sister, aren't you? That will make our battle fun, now won't it?"

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I was angrier than I'd ever been before in my life. Even when my father was dead, even when my mother left Prim and I to starve….nothing compared to the anger I felt boiling deep inside of my gut.

He was trying to take away the family I'd had after the mining accident….and _he _was only alive because of President Snow.

Once Cato had finally left the room and Effie had chided us on manners, I pick up another butter knife and I am very tempted to stab her with it. But it occurs to me it's not as if she knows any better, or as if she really has any control of what happened, what's happening, or what will happen to all of us. She is only our Capitolite escort, and she's so stupid, so naïve….she can't help it, though. So I quietly apologize for we four's 'lack of mannerism' and take Prim's shoulders, steering her onto the elevator with Gale and Rue trailing behind us.

Peeta and his older brother haven't woken yet, (they both pretty much passed out as soon as the older version of Peeta arrived,) and I don't care if I make a lot of noise as I sit on the edge of our bed with my little sister. Tears were running down her face rabidly, and I only see the same little blonde child that I did on the morning of the reaping. How I promised her that since her name was only in there once, that they wouldn't pick her….

And then this happened.

I've always protected her because it is my job. But she always felt the need to return the favor…so she did protect me by coming the Capitol. I always knew she was smart, and I knew the Capitol despised and admired her a bit for doing what she had to, (and what it looked like she did,) to get her to me.

But it was dangerous….I just knew it was.

President Snow hated her, and he hated me for becoming a rebel from his rules. He knew that we were important and were giving a little of people the same fire we felt….the fire of a rebellion.

And if the fire was to become strong enough with all 12 Districts combined as one….then we would not lose.

"Katniss…..what if he kills us all?" the voice of my young, fearful little sister brings me from my thoughts once again, "what if….we can't start th-the…"

"Shhh," I shush her not only because she is sobbing by now, but because there is a _very _high chance we are being recorded right now, "Prim…Primrose, it's okay. Look…you will win the Games again. I promise."

Because even if I don't make it out alive….at least she can be the face for the rebels.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

"Alright, listen to me carefully, Rue…." I try to talk to this small District 11 girl who I still can hardly believe is a Victor like I would Prim as I sit her on the window bench of our large suite, "you're going to make it out of that arena alive."

I can only hope she is getting my message: We all are. Somehow, we will escape, and we will feed the already burning flame of rebellion. I could feel in the atmosphere of District 12, the hushed whispers in the mines, the talk around town so low the Peacekeepers couldn't hear.

A war was brewing…and I knew for a fact the District 12 was going to be the lead of us rebels.

"Alright," she tells me, acting perfectly like she isn't aware of the fact we are probably being recorded and also knowing that Katniss is telling Prim the same thing.

But I'm not sure if that poor little flower understands exactly what is about to happen and how it will….

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

Katniss, Gale, and Rue all thought with the same mind: We were going to escape that arena, we were going to rebel against the Capitol, overthrow them, and end the hunger as well as the Hunger Games.

Not as simple as it sounded, I knew, and I had a feeling they didn't know I was following their thought processes. Maybe I didn't completely understand how we were going to do it yet, but I did realize they all thought it was super-mega important that they kept me alive.

That's what I don't realize….at all, really.

I have survived the Hunger Games once when everyone, (including me,) thought I was dead, but it turned out I wasn't. President Snow was obviously displeased at the rule chance about having not one, but _two _Victors already….but now there were _three_. So he brought back the single most threat and fear of the Victor who was never destined to be….Cato.

Yes, I realize that everyone probably thinks I actually murdered that Peacekeeper. But he committed suicide for me….I'm not sure why. Perhaps he just happened to like me? But I got the Capitol, just as I needed, planned, and wanted to, and I got in front of Panem to decline Katniss' volunteer.

Nothing like that as ever happened in the history of Panem, I'm positive. But I still find it a little hard to wrap my mind around the fact that a girl who was small, meek, and too-skinny like me would start an uprising among 12 other Districts. I knew people were impressed by me, (I still blush at this thought,) and I heard a few soft whispers in my household as Katniss healed from a long road of depression she'd been flung into when she herself thought she'd lost me. District 12 was ready for the rebellion….and everyone thought from the start those were my intentions.

And President Snow thought so as well.

But honestly this is not what I wanted….at first.

I just wanted to save Katniss' life. I knew that she could hunt, and I knew that she was very smart. If she could keep three people all alive for all of those years, surely she could've held her own out there. But I couldn't bear for her to risk her own life when originally, it should've been mine on the line. So I went and proved to everyone I _did _have what it took to make it home…and I kept both of we two alive on my own.

I just had no idea the affect that I have….


	16. Training, Day One: Alliances

Warning 16

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I am still furious as we are all escorted into the Training Center, given instructions by Atala before we all broke off into separate groups. The Careers were all one-pack of course, and their siblings just stood their awkwardly, unsure of whether to listen to their talk about how and who to kill first and laugh about it.

The District One girl is a small thing, and I wonder how she could've won. Her name's Cashmere, I think, and she had a brother beside her, who looked like her twin. I'm not sure who's siblings they were, but there was a little boy who looked about five standing there with a girl who looked about eight. They are the only two I see for the Careers, but both of them didn't really look like they cared about them.

I quickly determine the rest of the siblings of the past Victors: The District 3 lady has a sister who looks about five or six years older, and the District 3 male has a sister who looks like she's about my age. The District 4 male, Finnick Odair, has a younger sister who looks only a few years younger than him, and the District 4 girl has none. The District 5 tributes and District 6 tributes don't appear to have any siblings as well.

The District 7 girl, Johanana, doesn't seem to have anyone, but her partner looks like he had a little brother. A young one too….he looks like he's about twelve, which reminds me pretty painfully of how Prim was in the Games again this year. The District 8 female has a twin, and the male has a little girl with him. She looked like she two, and my hearts goes out to her a little. The poor thing wasn't going to last past the first night….neither of them were. The District 9 male had a brother who looked a couple of years older and the District 9 female had a brother who looked about her age….maybe they were twins, too. The District 10 pair are already siblings, since she looks about twenty and he looks about twenty-four, and they both strongly resemble each other.

I obviously already know who is from District 11 and my own District….but I don't really know Peeta's brother. I remember Peeta as the Boy with the Bread, but as far as his big brother…I'd never met or him, or seen him, really. He was a few inches taller than Peeta, and his hair as a light brown, his eyes matching his younger brother's perfectly. He was pretty handsome, I will admit, but I wasn't very attracted to him.

"C' mon, Catnip." Gale's voice tears me away from gazing at the two of them, "we need to work on snares and traps if we're going to survive this thing."

I nod once and walk over with him, beginning to make average snares as Gale proceeds to amaze the instructors with his knowledge and his quickness at making them. He'd been making them illegally for game all these years….of course he would know how to make traps like this. Sighing loudly, I finally decide to go to archery, hitting the bullseye each time, pretty bored but knowing there wasn't much else for me to do.

Prim walks over soon enough, and the instructor doesn't have to show her how to notch the arrow and aim correctly. From the one time she went hunting with me, she'd shown me she had an amazing aim but had low tolerance for killing things. Even when she was in the Hunger Games, she hadn't really killed anyone, which was pretty amazing, but didn't really surprise. She was too much of a healer and a tender-hear to do it….

But hunting humans can't be that much different than hunting animals, can it?

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

Rose and I have just finished up at the plant station, (which we both pass easily,) and now we are watching as Prim takes a small bow and sets a quiver of arrows at her feet. I'd noticed how amazing of an archer Katniss was, so maybe it ran in the family? Either way, the second my best friend let the arrow fly, it hit the bullseye easily, rewarding her with a spurt of fake blood.

I could hardly believe I was proud of her for not flinching away from it.

"She's really good," Rose whispers to me in awe, and I smile, taking her shoulders in my own hand and rocking back and forth on my heels a bit, smiling my pride.

"She really is," we watch as she keeps hitting the target dead-on, soaking the dummies totally in red liquid.

But the last arrow doesn't hit the dummy. It actually hits far from it.

It hits the instructor.

He gives a little squeal of pain, doubling over a bit at the arrow lodged right above his kneecap now. Prim's hands fly over her mouth, which is now shaped in a surprised, worried 'o'. And she can't really help herself; she rushes over to him, leaning him back into a chair and tearing off a piece of her pants leg, wrapping up the small wound quickly.

And that's when I realize the entire Training Center is absolutely silent in watch of her.

"There," if she notices everyone watching closely and not making a sound, she doesn't seem to mind or care, "you'll be okay. I'm sorry I did this to you….I truly am. Would you like some water?"

He just stares at her, obviously shocked and confused, "I….I'm alright, sweetie. Um….thank you."

"It was all my fault, you deserve it," she rises, turning and seeming to realize everybody staring in awe, anger, and confusion to her, "um….hi….?"

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

Everyone is just staring at me….I back away a bit from their gazes. None of them seem to be blinking…..

I spin on my heel and run out of the room. I know I'll probably be punished for it later on, but honestly, I am too freaked out to care. Soon I am in District 12's room, my face buried in one of them many pillows on the bed Gale, Katniss, and I all slept in last night. I want the tears to come, but at the same time, I don't want the other tributes to think I'm an easy-kill or that I can't handle anything.

Adventures used to be a big ordeal for me, and they still kind of are. After the 74th Games, I just wanted curl up with Katniss and sleep away my troubles, as if that was possible. I helped out an instructor after I accidently shot him….that would make people know I was a healer and not much of a killer, but that also made me seem weak or stupid, probably. This worried me; they'd be coming after me more than they already were, especially Cato.

"Hey….tuck in that tail, Little Duck," I feel a loving hand on my lower back as the back of my shirt tail is tucked in gently before the bed squeaks and Katniss is sitting beside me.

"Quack," I reply, my shaky voice muffled in the sheets as I crack a half-hearted smile.

She pulls me to sit up, pulling me tightly against her body and chest as she mumbles in my air, "I know it's hard, but it's all going to be okay. You're not going to die, Prim….I won't them kill you."

And once again I am remembering the day of reaping, how she cradled me the same way and spoke in the same tone as she is now, trying to reassure me. I allow to keep doing so, acting as if I am actually believing her, but a part of us both knows that I have become a lot more wise, and I know the possibly is very, very real I won't make it past the bloodbath.

The odds just never seem to be in my favor anymore….

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

Poor Prim…..

"I'm going to try out the knife-throwing station," Kyle tells me, striding over and beginning to aim best he can. He hasn't said anything to me, but I know he's as scared as me, and he knows he probably not be making it out just like I do.

We're not part of the alliance truly. Katniss knows I love her, but she obviously loves Gale. She's known him since she was a twelve and they've been hunting partners since….I don't really stand a chance on him. Prim and Rue are best friends, and Katniss obviously loves Prim more than anything else. She also seems to like Rue alright, so they're going to be as close as the Careers as far as to the extent their alliance will go.

Kyle and I are just the other two tributes with District 12….we'll need to find other allies if we were going to make it out of the bloodbath.

I suddenly catch the eye of the District Three girl tribute….she's about middle age I can tell, and I rack my brain to remember her name from the reapings. Wiress…..and her partners name is Beetee. They're at the plant indentification station, and by the way they are easily passing, working as a team, I am certain of two things:

They are already an alliance

Kyle and I need to be a part of it as well

I stride over to them, tapping Beetee on the shoulder a little cautiously. He seemed nice enough from what'd I see on the replay of the Chariot rides, how he waved to the audience with a little smile but avoided their gazes, but maybe he was pushy or aggressive. Wiress was probably not a threat, at least….she didn't look like she could harm anything.

Beetee jumps a bit when I touch him, and he turns to me, pushing his glasses on the rim of his nose further, "Who are you?"

"Peeta Mellerk," I reply softly, feeling a bit shy in the presence of this past victor, "I….I won last year's Game with Rue."

"Ah, yes…I remember you now," he smiles a bit to me, which helps me relax a bit, "were you going to try this station?"

"Yes….well…." I think about how to word this. If this obviously nice guy rejected me, I had a feeling I had no hope for anybody else accepting me.

"He wants to…." Wiress begins, but suddenly she looks back to table, resuming the test of plants, like she forgot I was there.

"Ally with us?" Beetee finishes for her, never taking his eyes off mine, "is that so, son?"

"Yeah," I was right: both of them are very smart, even if they are in their forties or fifties and, by the looks of it, were more intelligent than strong or fast, "you two seem like really good allies to have. We'd be able to make it past the bloodbath if you two, my brother, and I all work together."

He thinks it over for a moment, but she answers for him this time, "That sounds like a great idea."

I have to smile a little at her response, "Thank both of you."

I see the District 7 female tribute scowl a little bit at us, and I raise an eyebrow. What was her problem? But she ignores me after that, picking up an axe and hitting the center of a target about 300 feet away, keeping it to stick deep within the wood. She's Johanana Mason, the girl who won the Games by pretending to be weak and helpless but turned out to be a ruthless killer in the end.

She'd be an even more useful alliance member, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen. She obviously wasn't up for any allies, and she'd probably slaughter all of us _at _the Cornocopia instead of help us escape it. So I walk with Wiress and Beetee to lunch, sitting with them at their table and trying to ignore Gale and Rue staring at me from their table.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

Catnip and Prim are still inside our room, so it is just Rue and her little sister sitting with me at our table. Apparently Peeta has made an alliance of his own with the District 3 tributes. His brother and their two sisters are off on a table of their own, and it looks like Kyle is flirting with the District 3 guy's little sister, who looks about seventeen or eighteen.

She's pretty, I will admit. Her hair is soft brown and down to her shoulders, like a mouse's, and her eyes are big and blue-green, like mints. Her frame is nice and thin, and she's got a small tan on her. She is smiling as she talks to Kyle, and the District 3's girl's older sister is sitting there awkwardly, looking at the table, at the ceiling, at her feet. It's obvious the three of them have been forgotten by their siblings, but the two potential lovers don't seem to care.

"I'm worried about them," Rue's voice brings me out of my trance as I turn to look at her again.

"I am, too," I figure she's referring to Catnip and Prim, but she shakes her head and points for a moment at the District Four tributes.

I don't know why's she's worried about Finnick Odair; he won the Games at fourteen, and he's still one of the younger Victors. The other one is a little old lady, so I can kind of understand the concern for her. She'd volunteered for a young women who was going hysterical with tears….she wasn't making it far at all, and both of us knew it. And then there was Finnick's little sister, who looked a lot like him….good grief, she was _hot_.

Her hair is black and falls to her waist with curls, and her eyes are sea-green as well. Her body is sturdy and her face's angular, making her look like a fighter….and a friend. It's hard to explain, but I liked it, anyway. She is chatting with him while he keeps a careful eye on his fellow tribute, who is now fingering a fork like that is the most important thing in the room suddenly.

"They can't be helped," I look back to Rue, who shakes her head when I say this and gets to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Rose asks innocently enough, and she shakes her head in reply, starting to walk to the District 4 table.

Sighing loudly, I shove another cheeseburger into my mouth and stare at the table. Telling her we weren't up for any more allies was pretty much out of the question, since she was obviously stubborn. Maybe that's why her and Catnip get along so well….

"Where is she going?" her little sister asks me, and I shake my head, waving my hand dismissively and leaning back into my chair.

"Where are those two?" I mumble to myself, looking to door for the two Everdeen sisters.

"Gale…" but about Rose isn't done talking to me yet, "am I going to die?"

"….no," I know I'm probably lying to her; she's seven among tributes much older than her, and obviously more bloodthirsty, "not yet you're not."

"Rue tells me that I won't all the time, but I know she is lying," I look up when she says this. How can she possibly know this? She's only seven years old…

Then again, I knew probably more than I should've at seven, too.

"Maybe she's not," I shrug for a response, "I have a feeling she's going to want to protect you with all she has, anyway. She loves you."

"I know, but I'm too young to play this game," she looks down, biting her lower lip, "I…I'm scared to die."

Before I can reply to that, the head Trainer comes up to me. And she is guiding Rory along by the shoulders.

So that's who was going into the Games with me….

I embrace him in a hug the second that I see them. I'm glad it's not Vick or Posy…they would be far too young, but Rory is, too. He's a year older than Prim, who's thirteen now. At least he has a little bit of a fighting chance….

"Your family was being….uncopperative," Atala tells us, and my stomach drops before my fists clench in rage.

"What did you do to them?" I demand sharply, getting up and standing to my full height, wanting to fight her and not caring what happened to me when and after I did it.

"They are still alive," she remains calm, strict, and firm anyway, "we just had to tazar your mother."

….I will kill all of them.

_**Finnick's P. O. V. **_

I'm paying more attention to the scene unfolding at the District 12 table. Atala just gave Katniss' cousin his siblings to go into the arena with him, and apparently she said something that made him angry, because it looks like they're about to fight.

"Finnick!" Fia suddenly hissed in my ear, and I snap my head back to the tiny District 11 girl who won the previous year with the Mellerk kid. She'd just asked to be allies with we two and Mags….but why?

"What's in it for us?" I pluck another sugar cube off of my plate, flicking it into my mouth with my thumb and offering her one, "these are supposed to be for horses, but they'll outlive all of us, anyway."

I feel Fia elbow me in the ribs at saying that, and I suddenly remember that this District 11 is only twelve, "Oh…sorry."

She just shrugs, "I don't mind. We should be allies so we can outlive some horses is what I'm saying."

I think that over for a minute. She has a point, and she's smart, too. We all are to some extent, since we're all Victors, but she outsmarted the Capitol. Well….actually, the District 12 little girl had, but they were friends, so an alliance was actually a very good idea. Especially when I had poor Mags to look after….maybe they could help.

"Sure," my little sister answers before I can, though, after she elbows me again and shakes the twelve-year-old's hand, "what's your name?"

"Rue," she replies, smiling a bit to both of us, "thanks for accepting."

"No problem," I finally can get another word in before Fia, and I can the District 12 guy….Gale, I think….smile faintly to her in approval.


	17. Personal training scores

Warning 17

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

"So what are you going to show the Gamemakers?" considering intelligence is what Beetee and Wiress rely on, I'm naturally curious as to know how they will impress the Gamemakers to their advantage.

"Probably do some mental math on a board or something," Beetee tells me, "I imagine Wiress will do the same."

"Same," she echoes with a small nod, and I nod my approval, considering it's actually not a bad idea, "what about you?"

"I guess I'll just show them some camouflage...if the District Six tributes save me any," I can't help but chuckle just a bit at the pair of them, both obviously vivid morphine addicts and contenting themselves with painting flowers on their cheeks, on their arms, on their legs.

I notice how Kyle is hanging out with Beetee's younger sister, Beatrice, and I can't help but smirk. Even if the stakes are high, we two are still brothers, so I will _have _to tease him about it. Beatrice _is _very pretty, though, so I can't really blame him. She's just not as pretty as Katniss...

What am I thinking? I can't be thinking about romance at a time like this, even though I would give anything to make out with her again...

Now I head over to Wiress' older sister, Niltella, who looks like she's not sure what to do. She's nearly in her sixties, and by the look in her eyes as she gazes to all the younger competitors, she doesn't think she'll be making it far, even if she has all of us for an alliance. Handing her a knife, I suggest her trying to throw it at the targets, but she just pressed the handle back into my still-open palm with a smile shake of her head.

"Son, I know I'm going to die. There's no point trying if it won't happen either way," the way she says it...it kind of makes me angry.

"How do you know if you don't even give survival a chance?" my voice is a little more powerful and louder than I'd originally meant it to be, but at least I know she's listening now.

But she remains cool and collected, which both impresses and annoys me, "Because even if I tried my hardest, I don't have what it takes. I never have, and never will...and I don't have a reason to return home."

'So you'd leave Wiress alone?" I snip a bit, and she finally looks down with regret a bit.

"Boy..." she sighs, "I already have."

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

Since we missed most of training yesterday, Prim and I are both behind. Well, I am, since I'm a not a past Victor.

"Why's that guy following Rue around?" I ask Gale, eyeing Finick Odair as I struggle to identify the edible plants and berries and such.

"He allied with her," he's actually a natural at it, which only gives me something to be envious of, "he, his sister, and that old lady mentor."

"Why?" my voice is harder than I meant it to be, but if we're allied like that, then our survival chances decreases too much to be real anymore. Did she completely forget about our plan?

"Pity?" he suggested with a shrug, "we can't worry about them, Catnip."

"I know," I look away from him now, managing to get a **D **on the plant station. Cursing under my breath, I head over for the ropes, my mind struggling for what to do next.

I can see where Rue would pity the District 4 tributes. The old lady volunteered from Annie Cresta, the girl who'd been driven to the breaking point in a more recent Hunger Games. Finnick was impressive, but cocky and very attractive. He could hold his own and could have turned down her offer, so maybe he liked her. His little sister would already be near him, so somehow, we'd ended up with three almost useless allies.

I had full faith Finnick would kill us all, if anything.

As I climb to the ceiling, I find myself wishing I was more nimble, like Prim or Rue. I've climbed plenty of trees before, but the ropes are harder to wrap my arms around and support my weight with. I'm actually a little impressed at the time it takes for me to be dangling above the entire training center by one ankle, only my fingers on the rope I was using for my hands. I don't scream or cry out, but my heart is racing as I struggle to swing up to get a better grip.

"Easy there, sweetie," I hear a low, seductive chuckle as I am lifted easily back to grip the ropes, and I scowl at his sea-green eyes.

"Don't call me sweetie, Odair," I reply, managing to get the other side of the ceiling and beginning to climb down.

I can see Gale at the archery station, and I notice how his arrow twitches toward him for a moment. Smirking lightly, I go back to him and kiss his temple to make him feel better. He smirks in return, and I have to return it as I pick my own bow and arrow.

Of all times to fall in love...

_**Rose's P. O. V. **_

I watch Rue as she climbs carefully on the ceiling after Katniss and Finnick get down themselves. She looks so determined and so brave...I can only hope to be like that one day.

Maybe I can climb the ceiling, too...

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I can tell that Rue's little sister has ambition as she tries to climb the wall. I smile a bit myself as I sip some water, having already done pretty much every station. My strengths are archery and speed as well as traveling in the air, but I'm not the best at weapon-to-weapon/ hand-to-hand combat. That's bad in this kind of a game, but at least I'm not totally helpless.

At least I have a little bit of a chance.

I am twirling my hair nervously, a habit I developed suddenly and randomly in the past year, watching as each of the other tributes go into a familiar room to try and wow the Gamemakers. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do; last year, I'd thrown a knife into the wall near them all when somebody brought out a stuffed pig before I flipped them off and skipped out giggling. It was a really stupid thing to do, and I have a feeling that they won't forgive me so easily.

"Primrose Everdeen," the way the lady says it sends a chill up my spin, and I flash back to Effie reading my name in her strange Capitol accent the first time a few days over a year ago at the reaping. Two Peacekeepers snag my arms and begin escorting me into the room, marching in step as my heart races far too fast for it to be healthy.

When I'm pushed inside the room, I look up to see the Gamemakers high up above me, like they were before. But they're not drunk this time, and all of their eyes are staring holes into me. It's obvious they remember what I pulled the year before…

Then I notice something. There's a small place in the force field where it is weak, where something like an arrow could shoot through and disable the entire thing. An icy feeling ripples up my spine and makes my knees trembles as I think about that, if I hit that weak spot, I could kill them all right here, right now.

_What am I thinking_? I feel tears pricking in my eyes as I make my way over to the bow and arrow station, deciding to shoot some arrows for a few minutes instead, _I can't kill Capitolites or they'll kill me…. _

I can't describe how disturbing it is to barley think about how I can't kill anyone because I'm not that kind of person. But truthfully, I think I've grown up to the point that I am no longer Prim from District 12, the shy girl who was always nice and hopeful and loved to heal anything living. Maybe Prim is somewhere deep down inside of me, but for now, she is hidden from my feelings and my thoughts.

Now, I am Primrose Everdeen, the Girl of Survived, the little sister of the Girl on Fire. I am the Girl who started the Fire, and the girl who was going to start an uprising with her 'cousin' (who was a Runaway,), her best friend, her older sister (who was also the Runaway,), and her ally.

Primrose is brave, and Primrose is strong enough to handle her emotions. Primrose is going to be a leader in an uprising, and she will assist in overthrowing the cruel Capitol who've taken some of her loved one.

I like Primrose because of these qualities. But as I debate whether or not shooting that weak spot in the protective barrier while hitting the bulls-eye on all five targets, I find myself missing Prim.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

I found the private session with the Gamemakers pointless.

If I got a good score, then I could get some sponsors. But the Capitol hates all of us from District 12, so what was the point? All I did was make a trap and drop a piece of wood I'd found from someone making a fire before me, and they dismissed me.

Katniss is sitting on one side of me while Portia, my stylist, sits on the other side of me. Peeta sits on her side, Kyle sitting beside him, and Cinna beside Prim, who is beside Katniss. It's kind of amazing we can all fit on the couch, but then again, the couch is bigger than most couches that should be legal in size. We are only half-listening, (or at least I am,) through Districts 1-10. Turns out Rue's partner, Chaff, got a 8, and Rue herself got a 11.

Not bad at all...

"Peeta Mellerk, District 12," Ceaser now says as he looks at his paper, "with a score of..." I could see the olders catch their breath, "10."

"Peeta!" Portia gasped softly, grinning, obviously very thrilled about it. Katniss even smiled at little bit at him before locking eyes with me, us both understanding, knowing, and accepting our scores weren't going to be anywhere near that. The best we could for was probably going to be a 2.

"Gale Hawthorne, District 12," Ceaser looks at the paper, "with a score of..." His eyes widen at the paper, "11."

"ELEVEN?!" I shout out, and my cheeks redden a little as soon as I recover from the full-force impact of that shock. Prim and Portia congradulate me with smiles, but by the look in Katniss' eyes, she's thinking the same thing as me.

This was no accident; they've made me an open target.

"From District 12, Katniss Everdeen. With a score of...11,"

Typical and expected at this point, really.

"And lastly, from District 12, Primrose Everdeen," I see Prim tense up beside Katniss, even though I doubt she realizes the danger her sister and I are in now, especially for any and all bloodthirsty Careers, "with a score of..."

He freezes again, but with a longer pause. Maybe it's for damatic effect, since he's the master of cermonies, but I have a hautning feeling creep over me it's geneuine.

"12,"

A little girl from District 12 getting a perfect score...

Oh. Heck.

_**Finnick's P. O. V. **_

I think I speak for everyone when I say Primrose's score surprised us all tremdeously.

Since I myself have been dealing with the Capitol for years from the age of fourteen, I know they are up to something. They are setting her up as a large target for the Careers, espeically Cato, who already has a bone to pick with her and only got a 9.

Maybe it's better that I'm allies with them all.

Katniss Everdeen is a hunter and so is Hawthorne, but the Baker Boy only surrvived last year because he had his strength and his manipucalitive skills over the Capitolites. I have a good feeling that he's not _really _in love with the little District 11 girl...he's seventeen and she's thirteen. That sounds like a pedophile, but I'm pretty sure it's not one of those.

Besides, the Capitol would probably accept a twelve-year-old going out with a thirty year old.

The interviews will be tonight, since it's the last day of training now. I am perfecting my trident skills, but I'm also keeping an eye on the District 12's and the small girl who proposed an alliance with we District 4's, Rue. She's fast and she's averagely strong, and by the way she is throwing knives and hitting close to the targets, I know that she is capable of killing.

But I'm not sure if those two Everdeen girls are.


	18. Interviews

Warning 18

**_Katniss' P. O. V. _**

"Beautiful, dear," Cinna mumbles, putting the final touch on a braid that the style he'd learned from my mother, "simply beautiful."

"Thank you," my voice is softer than I'd like, and I make a mental note to fix that before my turn on the interviews. To the Capitol I'm already too bold for my own good; no need to change their ideas about sponsoring me.

Cinna smiles warmly to me in a way that I know is honest. He actually cares about Prim, Gale, Peeta, and I, unlike most of the Capiolties, and isn't a total idiot, like our stylists. I look to Prim, who is now dressed in a sparkly black tanktop and white tights, and with her braid that matches my own and her black eyeliner around her blue eyes, she looks like she came from a fire.

With my brillant flame-like patterns across my own face, I look like I am the fire.

The Fire of Rebellion.

It surprises me a little that he knows about this, even when we haven't spoken of it near anybody related to the Capitol at all. I have been careful to make sure our plan was sucessful, and that meant as few members of it to begin with as possible. More people meant more deaths, and each death only brought people closer to their personal breaking points.

I am not sure what mine is, but I do know that I am a huntress and that I am strong. With my mother, it only took my father's death to make her tune out of reality, and then Prim's possible death when her Hunger Games began to make her end her own life.

I'm not sure what Prim's breaking point is, either. But I am detirmined to keep her from breaking, even at the cost of my own sanity.

* * *

I can tell that Gale is getting very impatient as we four tributes from District 12 stand in the back of the line of this year's tributes, we girls to go before he and Peeta. Since this year's games include our families, they will be interviewed seperatley, which I could tell thrilled the Capiolites.

It didn't matter we all hated it, and we all knew it. Even the Careers didn't seem too thrilled about it, which both surprises and pleases me. At least their districts seem somewhat willing to cope with we outlying districts, or at the very least agree that this year's games were sure to be tortorous and endless for almost all of us.

"From District 12...you know her as the Girl who Survived. Let's give her a warm Capitol welcome-back: Primrose Everdeen!"

Suddenly, Prim looks just like that little girl at the reaping, her eyes going wide and face becoming suddenly pale. My first instict is to go for her, just like I tried to before, but I know she's brave now. Pressing my hand to her lower back gently, I guide her to the very edge of the enter to the wide, shining stage, proding her to go out. Somehow, she manages to look graceful, and I doubt I will be able to have that kind of charm compared to her or Rue, who's killing ablities captured their attention...

And her girlish innocence captured their hearts.

_**Prim's P. O.V. **_

My heart is racing quickly as I shake Ceaser's hand, sitting in the soft interview chair and trying to remain ladylike and harmless. It's the angle Effie practiced with me, meaning I tried to copy what she did naturally instead of listening to her instructions. I gaze across the audience's eager make-up caked faces, resisting the urge to bite my lower lip and sink back from my shyness.

"Good evening, Primrose. My, you look lover," Ceaser says politely, and I return the politeness, thanking him quietly, making the audience coo a bit.

"You look lovely, too," I tell him with a small smile, making people laugh, including him.

"So, how do you feel about going back into the Hunger Games?" he asks the famous question of the night, and I cross one leg over the other with a small fold to seem delicate.

"I am a little nervous, but I'm sure I have good allies," I say, being sure to keep my tone light and innocent, "Katniss is the strongest person I know."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I know that I have made a vital mistake. Just like with the personal training results, I have made her more noticeable by the Careers, which is very bad. But I also might have earned her sponsors, and I have no doubt she'll make it past the bloodbath to be supported by them. So maybe I didn't just ruin everything completely.

"I see, I see. What were you thinking when you discovered that Cato has returned?" my chest tightens up at this mention of his name, and my body trembles a little at the thought of his torture to me.

"Well...I got very scared. But...I think that...um..." I suddenly get a stroke of inspiration as I put on a convincing, yet fake, smile, "if we all work together, we can become friends."

_**Cato's P. O. V. **_

Primrose Everdeen is an idiot. But she is a smart idiot.

She has just shocked all of Panem with her suggestion of we two becoming friends. She's stupid and naive, but both of us know that was a complete lie. She is aware I am more than ready to kill her and that she will not make it three minutes when that cannon fires, but she's got the Capitol's attention.

Too bad her new sponsors won't be able to save her.

**_Gale's P. O. V. _**

Well, the kid's got guts, that's for sure.

"I see..." even Ceaser looks flustered and alarm; whether it's because of her bravery or her 'naiveness', "well, one more question, Primrose. Rumors have it that you and young Rory Hawthorne should become a couple. Any thoughts on this?"

I can see her blush a little, "Well...maybe. He is cute."

Rage builds into my chest, even though it's not to her. The Capitol is trying to drag my little brother into this...I will kill all of them.

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

When Prim's time is up, it's finally time for me to be on the biggest stage in Panem in front of everybody. I can barely hear the crowd's screaming as I walk stiffly to the interviewing chair, weakly shaking Ceaser's hand as we two sit across from each other. I can't help but remember what happened last year as I sit here, half expecting Prim to run up to me halfway through like she had.

"What?" I blink once to Caeaser, realizing he'd said something and stirring a laugh from the crowd.

"I think someone's a little nervous," he pats my hand in his two own, "I said, it must feel exciting to be back after your volunteer was vetoed last year."

"Yes...it is," this is a lie, but I'd much rather it be me than Prim. Even if she's here too, at least I can protect her.

"How were you feeling when she ran up? I do believe all of us were quite...surprised," he comments, and the Capitolites applaud their approval to that fact.

"I was shocked," I nod once, becoming expressionless and tucking away my emotions towards what I'd been through, "and I didn't want her to go."

"You must really care about her," he pats my hand in his own again, and I just nod, "now, be honest with me, Katniss: Is it true that you are caught in a bit of a...love triangle?"

Love triangle?

I wonder at first what he means. That's when two large pictures flash on the screens behind us, showing a photo of Peeta and I kissing in the hallway when I'd first come this year. The other photo shows Gale smirked as I kiss his cheek, which was earlier today. Fury and embarrassment are bubbling in my stomach now, threatening to show on my face, but I manage to keep a steady expression.

"There is nothing going on between we three," I reply, sounding colder than I'd meant it but not completely like I want to kill all of them, which I want more than ever at this point.

"I see," Ceaser nods once again, "well, I wish the odds to be in your favor tomorrow."

Tomorrow. That's when the nightmare will truly begin.

"Don't wish them in my favor," I stare at the audience now, hoping they would all disappear if I concentrated hard enough, "wish them in Prim's. She's the one who will make it out alive, no matter what it takes."

I can tell everyone is touched and confused. They don't truly realize what it is like to love someone to the point you would lay down your own life for them.

Prim is my main concern because she is the only one I truly love.

Not Peeta or Gale.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

I know that she wants Prim to come out alive as much as I want Rory coming out of the arena not in a coffin. But the odds aren't in there favor, especially in her's. The Capitol both adores and hates her, and the president himself doesn't like her, or joy in general.

And she is both of those things.

Before I fully register that it is my turn to be interviewed, I am sitting in the interview chair while Caeser says, "Ah, you are quite a handsome young man, now aren't you?"

Remembering the drill Effie tried to drill into me, I say softly, "Thanks."

"A bit shy, are we?" I feel ridiculous at this act, especially because stupid Effie Trinket came up with it for me. Not only am I stronger and more attractive than Bread Boy, but I'm not shy, meek, or afraid of fighting for my family's life.

Katniss is just as much my family as Mom, Rory, Vick, and Posy.

"Yes sir," I reply in that pointless soft tone once again, and he chuckles, patting my shoulder securely and flashing a smile that litterally glows.

"No need to be, though. Isn't that right, folks?" he swings out his arm to the crowd, who roar happily as I pretend to be embarrassed.

"Thank you," I can only imagine the look on Katniss' face as watches this...

"Now then, Gale..." he takes my hand like he did with the girls, which makes me blush, but not because I'm shy, "tell me your perspective on Katniss."

"Well...I really like her..." the thing is, that's actually true.

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

I'm positive Gale knows he's making a fool out of himself and our district, but I'm also positive that that angle was not his idea. At least my angle isn't that retarded or artificial.

"Ladies and gentlemen, District 12's Gale Hawthorne!" Ceaser announces, pumping Gale's hand in the air with his own as the crowd cheers and whistles, quite a few standing as he pretends to be nervous about the attention.

Then I am sitting down with him, smiling cooly and acting as if I'm comfortable, "It is good to be back, Ceaser."

"Good to know. How are the showers?" he teases, and all of us share a laugh, mine tighter and more forced, but luckily it was unnoticable.

"They're...good. I was going for the lemon scent," I fan out from myself, and we all laugh once again.

"So how do you feel?" he inquires, leaning forward a bit, "about her?"

We all know who he's referring to, "Well...I've actually been in love with her since we were 5. I really adore her, and Gale...Gale is getting in the way."

Everyone is mumuring, a few gasping, other cooing as he replies in a suspenseful tone, "Do you think he will when her love in the arena, then?"

"I doubt it..." now I have to act embarrassed, but for my own little plot twist for Panem to enjoy/watch, "I would think otherwise if not for the baby."

* * *

As soon as I step off that stage, I am rammed into the wall by Gale.

"You better swear that's not true or I will kill you before Cato can dream it up," the rage on his face is so real and so angry, it made my fear drill deep into my bones, just like the arena's atmosphere and reality of what is to come.

"It's not," I hiss under my breathe, pushing him away with only a little effort, "please, just stay away from me. I'm not a part of your alliance, alright?"

He just snorts but leaves me alone. Climbing onto the elevator, I look to the District 7 women, who was already on there and was now stark naked.

"Stupid dress," she grumbles, looking at me with a small smirk, "so, you got the Runaway laid before Hawthorne."

I just nod and stare ahead, trying to ignore her exposed body and her teasing glance. I should've known: The 'affair' between Katniss and I was only going to make the tributes think I was dirty, stupid...

And make Katniss and I both very targetable.

_**Prim's P. O. V.**_

I know Katniss is upset, even more than Gale is.

She kept her composure until we got back to our rooms on our floor. Gale doesn't even leave when the sibling's interviews begin, and I know he would want to stay with her throughout the night. I can tell she's embarrassed and even a little afraid, and while that does worry me, I do my best to stay strong for all of our sakes.

"She'll do fine," I whisper to Rue, gripping onto her hand just as tight as she is to mine as Rose climbs the stage, dressed up in a bouncy yellow dress that is a little too old for a seven-year-old.

"Good evening, Rose," Ceaser bows a little to her, being polite even though she's just a young girl, "how are you liking the Capitol?"

"It's very pretty," she smiles, sitting up straight, "Rue says it's amazing, too. I like it here."

The audience coos, and I know she has them hooked with her sweetness and innocence, "I see, I see. Tomorrow's a very big day for you, no?"

"It is," she nods, "Rue doesn't tell me what will happen, but she says I have to stay with her."

Her honesty is sweet but targetable. We're all targetable as it is, but now they know where the siblings will be as the Games take place. But the Capitol doesn't realize it; all they know is that she's adorable, and that's all that matters to them.

This will bring us sponsors.

I watch as Rory comes onto the stage before Kyle does, noticing that he actually is cute. He strongly resembles Gale, but his eyes are lighter and his build is slightly lighter because he hasn't been in the mines yet. I do hope that we succeed in escaping so that he will live up to that age and further, but not be forced to work in the place that killed Dad.

But there is an obvious problem. Unlike Gale's angle, Rory's nervousness and shyness is one-hundred percent real, making it painfully obvious that his older brother's act was...well, an act. Ceaser is trying to be understanding, but as the Master of Cermonies, it _is _his job to get the interviewed to talk and seem appealing.'

"Don't be shy like your brother," he smiles to the boy who is only a year older than Rue and I, "you've seen I don't bite. Right, folks?"

As they cheer, he blushes deep red and finally sputters something out, "I...want to go home."

"But the fun has only begun..." it's a weak save and we all know it, but poor Ceaser is trying to keep the ball rolling. I bite my lower lip now, letting go of Rue's hand and walking away from her as she tells Rose how proud she is of her.

I have to help them.

That's a part of me that tells me that somewhere Prim still exsists within Primrose.

_**Rory's P. O. V. **_

_****_I know I am probably bringing shame to my family's name, but I can't help that I am afraid. My entire life I have remained invisible, and now I was put in the limelight. It's better me than Vick or Posy, but still.

Needless to say, I'm terrified.

Just as I'm struggling to spit out a response to what Ceaser said about the fun only just beginning, another gets on stage. Several lights focus on her along with almost all of the cameras, and I know they are following her carefully as she walks up to me.

"Prim?" I manage, shocked and embarrassed when she sits beside me in the chair, just fitting because of her size.

"We will go home," she tells me, her blue eyes shining with promise and hope, as all of Panem watches the first visible spark of rebellion and hope for us all, "I promise."


	19. Let the Games Begin

Warning 19

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

I always knew Rory was shy and quiet.

He was known as my oldest youngest brother/sibling and that was all. When our father died in the mining accident, he hid behind Mom and even Vick as I was presented the medal of valor as the older sibling in our family, my family huddling together in depression and fear on that collaspable stage. I remember the terror I felt deep with in my gut that day, and the looks on all of their faces, even on Posy, who was just a baby then.

Rory had the same look on tonight as he did then.

I saw the hope flash across his face briefly when Prim came up and couldn't help but smirk lightly at the two of them. Love was going to be very short lived in the arena, but they seemed to fit together nicely. Maybe back in District 12, before her first reaping, they would have a more innocent love, one with two shy young teenagers.

But now it was more tricky, and had potiental for maturity: Rory was the innocent one who was scared to death, and she was just like Catnip: Strong, brave, and detirmined.

What the Games did to kids like her never ceases to sicken me.

"Gale..." Katniss looks to me, letting her deep concern and fear show in her eyes to me, "we can't let them die. No matter what."

"I know, Catnip," I wrap an arm around her securely, "we won't."

She just nods once, resting her head on my neck lightly with a sigh. As we stare at the reruns of the interviews, watching our competion and our pathatic-loomking angles, I know we don't have the odds in our favor at all.

But it's a nice thought to pretend like we'll all make it out living.

_**Rory's P. O. V. **_

I can't sleep, of course. It's not like I don't have reason; I'll probably die tomorrow.

"Rory?"

I'm quite surprised to see Prim standing in front of me now, her pale green nightgown tangled around her and her braids in a fish-tail style, since she was obviously asleep before. I blush against the darkness, wondering if I'd been thinking outloud or something to wake her.

"I'm sorry..." I begin, but she cuts me off with a gentle shake of her head, sitting beside me in that fragile way of hers.

"I know you're scared," she sounds so wise; it's hard to think of her as that shy, tender-hearted soul that brought hope to dreary old District 12, "and I am too. But it'll work out, I'm sure; I'll protect you."

"But...that's not how it's supposed to work," my cheeks flush red now, and I'm hoping she can't see it in the pale glow coming off the glamorized Capitol lights, "you...you're a girl."

That probably came out wrong...but thankfully, she doesn't take it the wrong way.

"I know that I used to be really weak, Rory," she takes my hands in her own, and they are still small and fragile seeming, "but...but I'm tougher now. I can handle this, just like Katniss..."

Her voices trails off, and as her lips move to speak again, a cracked voice sound escapes from her throat. She's right; she is tougher now. But still...even I can see she's still Prim. Smiling gently to her, I shyly wrap my arms around her slightly trembling body, rubbing small circles in her lower back like Mom and Gale always did for me, trying to comfort her with my all.

I really hate seeing her sad...

Her body tenses for a minute, then relaxs, accepting my hug, much pleases me. We sit together like that for a few forevers, but I can't say I mind. I hide my eyes in her shoulder as she hides her own in mine, and eventually I hear soft snoring, detirmining she fell asleep. Smiling to myself, I lean back, managing to balance her comfortably on my lap and letting my own thoughts drift into the nightmares.

* * *

My entire body is shaking as I slowly wake up. The ground is very soft, and my eyes go wide as I realize I am no longer in District 12's stayroom. I see several others around me, mostly kids around my age or younger, and I about pass out. The ground's hot and grainy, and I sit up in alarm as the little two year old girl from District Eight looks around with big, confused eyes.

We're on island.

We're in the arena.

And the cannon to the start Games is ten seconds away from firing.

_**Katniss' P. O. V.**_

I am staring straight ahead at the family members of all we tributes. They are all around the Cornocopia, most of them still asleep. The Capitol must have snuck in and taken them to this arena, and I know it will be hard to get to them. They are out on a large island, and about 200 strokes of water seperates them from all of us on the plates. The water is already up to our knees, and my heart begins to beat frantically.

_This is no place for fire, _I can't help but think, and that's when the cannon sends me into action.

Thanks to the hidden lake, I am a capable swimmer. I'm not sure if Prim is, though; she's never gone swimming there. I am about halfway to the island when I look back, relieved to find her swimming for her all at about my pace. She's too far from me, and I make a mental note to shield her when we hit land. The Careers will be after us, and an attack is too risky at any time, even in the water.

Gale is the first one to reach land, and he tears off into the sand, his intentions obviously for Rory. I can only watch as he braves through a few other scrambling tributes, ignoring their loud protests and the loud clashes of metal and cries of pain surronding him.

There isn't enough time to gasp when Cato gets to them before Prim or I reach shore.

_**Cato's P. O. V. **_

I have already found two swords for my own weapons, loving the power surge their feel send through me. I immidately go for Hawthorne and his pathtiac sniveling coward of a brother, deciding to finish them off to get warmed up for Primrose. I slice at the kid's neck with one sword as I go for Hawthorne's gut, but apparently he expected it.

But, like an idiot, he protecting his brother with his back last minute, just before the blade made contact.

"Aw, Hawthorne," I chuckle, kicking him to his injured back easily and pressing the two tips of my blades into his stomach, "this will be a nice little bravery lesson for your brother, now won't it?"

"Go...to...hell..." he grunts out through his obvious pain, which sends a thrill of pleasure through me, making me smirk when it does so.

"I'm already here," just I'm about to finish him off, something rams into my side, making me stumble and fall onto my own back, one of the hilts cracking a couple of my ribs as I fall.

That damn Rory kid...

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

Rose.

She was asleep before the cannon fired, and when it did, I'd seen her jump all but out of skin, looking scared and confused. I'd hit the water quickly, struggling against the water, fighting it with my all until I finally reached the shore, which took too long. Nobody has paid a lot of attention to her yet, even the Careers, who are now beginning to kill off our siblings in order to break we actual tributes. She's hidden in a bush best she can and still let me see her, and when I finally reach her, I grab her hand and pull her away.

I don't know where we're going, but it's as far away from the bloodbath as possible.

* * *

We're tucked away in the tree, and I begin to wonder if running away was the best idea. It got we two to safety, but what about the rest of our alliance? We're they still alive?

"I'm scared to sleep, Rue," Rose whispers softly, and I gently shush her from where we're hidden in the darkness, hugging her close to myself and trying to keep her feeling secure.

"I am, too," I confess softly, "but we don't have to. Not right now."

When she sighs in relief, tears threaten to peer out of my eyes. No child should ever have to be assured they don't have to go to sleep for fear something while happen to them...

The Capitol athem is suddenly blaring all around us, scaring any and all sleep lingering in our bodies immiedaley as faces begin lighting up the sky. I don't pay attention to most of them, simply because it didn't concern us. I am searching frantically for Cato's face, but it doesn't appear, unthankfully, but thankfully, none of the alliance's faces appear.

I feel sorry for two-year-old girl, who is now probably somewhere dying alone because her older brother died in the bloodbath. Rose seems to make the connection as well, and now she buries her face in my neck, sobbing softly because she's as tender-hearted as Prim still is, even if she doesn't show it a lot these days.

But really, who can blame her?

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

Avoid Cato and stay with Katnss.

Those were my instructions. But I got to the land after her, and she'd gone for Gale out of instict, probably because she loves him and their hunting partners. Cato had been down long enough for her to get Gale back to his feet, and for those two to take off aimlessly into the woods, Rory looking into a daze as he tried to scramble up and get his footing so he could follow them.

Then Cato rises again, and I take to the trees as quickly and quietly as I could, motioning frantically from above for him to do the same. Luckily, Rory catches my eye just in time and started to run into the underbrush, making Cato to try and chase him, probably thinking he was going after Katniss and Gale. But I manage to help him into a tree just in time, and eventually, he'd left to the Cornocopia, leaving we two free to carefully travel by tree, searching the rest of the afternoon for anybody in the alliance but having no luck, much to my dismay.

At least we're all still alive.

"What are we going to do now?" Rory asks me a little shyly as we rest in a somewhat large tree, him pressed securely to my side, even though I'm a little smlaler than he is.

"We'll keep searching tomorrow," I whisper quietly, being sure not to mention the escape plan. Surely there's at least one camera on we two by now...

"But what if we can't find them?" I can tell he's disturbed because of the long death list, and so am I; greatly, actually.

But I manage to keep a clear face his sake, giving him a gentle hug and wondering if this was how Katniss felt when taking care of we two when Mom checked out of reality. It's possible; she's never seemed to mind caring for me, and she's told me I'm the only one she truly loves, which cheers me up. But just like she has feelings for Gale, (whether she knows it or not,) I might have a little bit of a thing for Rory Hawthorne.

"We will find them," I promise him, and that's when I hear a small sob coming from below.

Almost in perfect sync, both of us peer down to see the small two-year-old baby stumbling around aimslessly, since her sibling/tribute died today in the bloodbath. There is no doubt she'll die tonight if somebody doesn't claim her, and my heart goes out to this poor baby girl. I know it's risky, but I drop to the ground and scoop her in my arms, carrying her back up and muffling her cries of alarm and fear in my shirt.

"Shhhh, baby," I sooth in the same voice Katniss always uses with me, "it's okay, it's okay. Don't cry, don't cry. It's okay. I promise I won't hurt you."

Slowly but surely, I watch the child's face become more calm and a little more trusting. She doesn't know much, being so very, very young, but even I can see the hint of fear/doubt in her big eyes. Smiling genlty, I begin rocking and singing.

_Deep in the meadow,_

_Under the willow._

_A bed of grass,_

_A soft green pillow..._

By the time I've finished, both her and Rory have fallen fast asleep. Gigglign softly myself, I lean against the trunk and stare at the fact stars in the sky with a small frown.

Once again, I am on my own in the Hunger Games.

But this time, I'm protecting to innocent souls with my own.

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

I want to kill myself.

I left Prim alone. I haven't been paying a lot of attention to her since the interviews, and I left her. I managed to save Gale, but she's still only thirteen, and I didn't see Rue since the cannon fired. We realized Rory wasn't behind us halfway through our run for the scene, and now both of us are worried sick.

"At least their not dead..." Gale mumbles as the lights of the Capitol tribute show end, pressing me tighter to his body as we hide in a thicket of bushes and thorns, "we'll find them, Catnip."

Now if only I would believe that we'll find them alive...

**_Finnick's P. O. V. _**

I grabbed a trident from the bloodbath and ran. It was as simple as that, except for the fact I had to carry Mags on my back and keep at a good pace for Fia. But we'd managed to get away unharmed, except for a small, light cut across my side from the brief scrap with the District Eight boy over my new weapon.

"Have you seen Rue?" I ask my younger sister, and Fia shrugs as she sets back against the underbrush we found safety in, "damn. We'll find her tomorrow."

* * *

_**Rory's P. O. V. **_

As I watch Prim sleep, I can't help but smile.

She's tough, she's strong, and she's been through only a little of a terrible war approaching, and I know she's been through too much already. But she still stays true to herself, at least a little, caring for the baby girl from District 8 and singing her to sleep and gaining her trust. Even if she was a baby, that was kind of impressive to me.

The two of them are pressed to each other, Prim's cheek resting on the top of the baby's head as they both sleep. I'll do my best not to wake them as I search for a little water, and as I climb down, I think about how amazing she is, and how hard I've fallen for her.

I love Prim Everdeen...and no amount of Primrose the Capitol turns her into will ever change her soul and her heart.

And I know that for a fact.


	20. Torture

Warning 20

_**Snow's P. O. V. **_

The Games are off to a wonderful start.

However, I can't say that I am pleased at the fact that none of the District 12s have been killed or harmed.

I will have to change this.

My Capitol people crave their action and their footage throughout the progress of this year's Quell, and it is understandable. I myself am looking forward to action, adventure, and heartbreak. They will certainly never forget the power the Capitol and myself holds by the time their times come, each in their own time.

I am not a fool; they are the rebels.

They will attempt to outsmart me as well as my people. They will not succeed, but just the right amount of closeness to victory, to hope, will truly teach them. I shall kill them in order that will drive them all to their breaking point, until one lone survives. I shall lead them to hope, to faith that he or she will have a chance against we Capiolties.

And then I will crush him or her like an insect.

* * *

_**Rory's P. O. V. **_

"So what's your name, sweetie?"

Prim's voice stirs me awake, and I groggily look to her talking in a sweet, caring voice to the little District 8 baby girl. Now that the shock of the previous day is wearing off, I wonder how she plans on taking care of her and keeping we two alive at the same time. But I have faith she'll figure it out...I can only try and help best I can from now on.

"Me Rainlynn," she coos, showing us both that Prim has gained her trust, "me two."

"That's a beautiful name," Prim coos in return, kissing her small forehead, "my name's Primrose. You can call me Prim if you want to. And his name is Rory."

"Oo big girl?" Rain asks in a childish way, her eyes showing she thinks it's actually an important question.

"Yes, I am," she smiles, keeping her patience as she pulls the child onto her back, allowing her to cling to her neck for all her tiny worth, "now, let's go find my sister. Her name is Katniss."

"She nice?"

"Yes, very."

I follow them without a comment, but honestly, I'm not sure if I entirely believe her on that part. If little Prim Everdeen, who I think loves any soul and will care for anybody, can love her older sister that much, she's probably serious when she says it. But with her emotionless face and fierce eyes, I have my doubts on how nice Katniss really is.

_**Gale's P. O.V. **_

I wake up before Katniss does, and I look up to the pink-blue sky, trying to remind myself it's beauty is only artifical.

This place isn't real. It was made by people from the Capital, and an electric barrier keeps all trapped in a dome-cage, suicide not really an option because of the electricty.

But there will be a weak spot in the forcefield somewhere.

And anything you can be put in, you can escape.

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

I can't believe I've woken up.

Beetee and Wiress, followed me as soon as we struggled to shore, Beetee carrying almost both of us across. There isn't any public pool or anything in District 12, much less an ocean, so I could barely get to the sand. When I did, I was coughing and sputtering weakly, trying to regain my bearings for their sake. Kyle scrambled after us as soon as we get there, and I'm glad he's unharmed.

Wiress' sister doesn't move from her plate, but I don't attempt to go back for her. It's not possible for any three of us to do it in our conditions; as much as it pains me, we had to leave her and run.

Now we're shivering, pressed to each other for warmth in the underbrush. The thorns and thickets are digging into my body, but I know better than to complain. In a game like this...I know that I've been through ten times worse.

We all have.

_**Finnick's P. O. V. **_

"Where are we going?" Fia's voice has a little whining tint to it, and I know it's just because she wants to ride my back instead of Mags, which makes me roll my eyes.

"We're finding our alliance," I reply steadily, "Rue's thirteen, you know. The Capitol loves the young ones and you know it."

My eyes are darkening as I remember what they did to me...

"Yeah, I know," she sighs, even though she really doesn't. She wasn't even born when I went into the Games; she doesn't know who I used to be, and who I am now.

"Shiny..." Mags mumurs, and I look up, seeing something glint in the sunlight.

A camera.

At this point, I don't care if all of that damned Capitol hears me. They're all completely evil, retarded, and ugly, and Snow's the worst of it. All of the lies, all of the beds, all of the whispered, druken secrets...

I pick up and large rock and smash the camera in one easy throw.

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

Gale and I are now moving through the island on light, hunter's feet.

_Prim. Rory. Rue. Rose._

I'm not looking for Finnick unless they've already found him, since I still think he will kill us all easily with his fancy trident. The thought occurs we might should try and find Peeta, but that wouldn't matter at this point. He kept my sister safe last year, and he tried his best to keep her alive.

But he's broken off of our alliance, and he is no longer our problem.

"Katniss!" a shrill voice suddenly screams, and my eyes go wide as I reconize that helpless cry for help.

_Prim. _

"Prim?!" I shout, taking off as fast as I can to try and find her, "Prim, I'm coming! Where are you?"

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I can hear screaming of my name.

_Katniss. _

"Katniss? I'm okay, I'm here!" I shout to her, rushing toward the sound of her voice, little Rainlynn clinging to my neck as Rory scrambles to keep up, "KATNISS!"

And suddenly, I see her. She is frantic and searching for me, eyes darting around. I scream her name again, wondering why she can't here.

Then I run into something solid, yet invisible.

I stand there, helpless, unable to reach her for what seems like forever. And suddenly she meets my eyes, her face frantic as she rushes to me. She slams into the same barrier as I have, and her face is so tortured, it shatters my heart.

Gale looks just as frantic behind her, and I wonder why she doesn't call him over. I can't hear her or tell what's going on behind this block, but it's driving her insane. I flash back to earlier this year, to that place of darkness she journeyed on, just like Mom had when Dad died.

When she thought I was gone.

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

It is unhumanly horrible.

The calls of the ones I love, the ones Katniss loves...they are screaming around us. For me, it's Mom, Rory, Vick, Posy, even my dad. I can here Prim, Katniss' mother, Peeta, and Katniss' father screaming as well, and they sound so tortured, I am scrambling to find them, to help them, even though I know most of them aren't here.

Then I see Katniss standing in front of Prim, apparently some invisble force seperating them. I can see Rory, pretty much unharmed behind her, and a small two-year-old clinging to her thin neck.

Weakly, I stumble my way to my Katniss, holding her tight with tears streaming both our faces, listening the mocking screams and tortured sounds until the field finally gives and we run to our sibling's arms.

And neither of us have ever cried like that.

Ever.

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

The rain was supposed to be a wonderful thing.

As soon as it hit, Rose and I reached out of the cover of our trees, cupping our hands eagerly for water. Water was completely valuable here, especially with the heat and humidty levels being so high.

But the rain is burning our hands.

I stare at the large burns now on both of hands, unable to make sense of it and my mind scrambling. The tree tops offer good protection, so I decide we will stay here until this mutant rain passes. I can hear the screams of other tributes nearby, and tears can't help but spring in my eyes as I hold Rose tight, protecting her with my all from the stray raindrops dripping through the leaves.

_I want to go home..._I think weakly as I cry noiselessly into my little sister's hair, _I want to go home, I want to go home..._


	21. Losing Love

Warning 21

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

The wonderful thing is that, even though we all had to witness and feel the effects of the torture, most of our alliance is together now.

We are still in the section of the island where they were tortured, since we're all too shaken up to move. I know it was probably worse on Katniss, and I can see it on her hardened face and dark eyes that she's trying to hard to stay strong for our sake. While I know she's a fighter and that is stronger than some people may think, I also know everyone has a breaking point.

So now we're pressed together under the canopy the trees cover, myself curled up to Katniss' side as Rainlynn curls up to mine. I could see the reluctness on both of their faces with they saw Rain, but I'm grateful they didn't tell me we had to leave her. She's very young, and it must have been horrible, having to watch your older brother be killed when you were so young. I wonder if she _did _see him get slaughtered, or if she remembers it. She probably doesn't understand fully now, but as she grows up, the image will haunt her forever.

It doesn't matter if we win the rebellion; the scars are still etched in all of our hearts.

"Me thirsty," Rain suddenly says softly, looking up at me wth big, brown doe eyes that shown with trust and shyness.

"We'll find some water tomorrow, sweetie," I promise in her ear softly, kissing the top of her forehead and pulling her tiny body close.

There is no fear and pain etched deep within them now, and I have full intentions of keeping them that way. She's just a baby; she shouldn't have to go through what so many have. Katniss doesn't deserve what she's gone through, and niether do I. But the Capitol is relentless, and they will crush anyone who goes against them, or destroy them on the inside and let them live, haunted and permantley torutured.

But I can save Rainlynn. There is still hope for her.

_**Rory's P. O. V. **_

Unlike the Everdeen sisters, Gale and I are not curled up against each other, simply because we're brothers. Instead, he stares straight ahead beside me, obviously fighting sleep as my head droops down with every passing minute. I'm fighting exhaustion just like he is, even though he probably hasn't slept much since the Games began and I got to snore in a tree.

Still, I'm not a hunter, and I'm not used to having my life on the line like this.

While he's no doubt planning an escape in his head, I'm thinking about our family. I remember clearly that I was being dragged out of my home by the Peacekeepers, how one of them actually struck my mother to get her to let go. She laid on the floor, sobbing and shrieking for them not to take me away, too, and I knew her already shattered heart is probably unfixable now.

"I'm sorry, Mom," a few tears splatter on my cheeks, and I don't bother wiping them away.

Vick.

He and I were probably the closest, since he was younger than me than four years and always seem to be innocent. He was as invisble as I was, if not more, and he was usually mute. He didn't try to make friends; I guess he was always destined to be a loner. Even so, he hung out with me every moment he could, and together, even though we didn't talk a lot in genral, we both knew what went through each other head's and what each other did, so we could always understand when one of us were emotional.

I wonder what he's going through now.

And finally, little Posy.

She was a sweetheart, but really, that's just not how I am. She looked up Gale tremendously, though, and when he was gone hunting or just too busy to play with her, she'd instantly go to me. She was like a little shadow, following me everywhere and asking a lot of questions. But she was pretty much impossible to be angry with with her cuteness and niceness, and I did love her because she was my sister.

I'm glad I have the family I do.

And this fact makes me that more detirmined for all of us to be together again, and for all of us to be truly happy.

And then I hear the Capitol athem blaring across the arena that was once pretty quiet, and we all fix our eyes on the dark sky with fake stars glittering. Faces begin to light up, signaling the death toll for today. I tally the faces up mentally, concluding there have been ten of thirty four that entered the arena deceased. I seperate the triubres in my mind, judging by my excellant memory.

**Dead: **The District Two brother and sister, (surprisingly enough,) the two tributes from Six, the District Seven male tribute, the District 8 tributes, and all of the contenders from Districts Nine and Ten.

**Living: **Cato, Cashmere, (his District partner,) Cashmere's brother, the contenders from District Three, Finnick, Mags, Fia, the District Fives, Johanana, Rainlynn, Rue, Rose, Katniss, Gale, Prim, and I.

The odds are still somewhat in our favor, at least.

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

Through the darkness, I see a small amount of relief on Rory's face as the faces fade away and the Capitol music ends. Relief in the arena isn't really possible; he probably is grateful we're all still alive.

It's just a matter of time before that changes, though.

* * *

Cannon fire wakes me up, and my fingers scramble to find Prim's frail body against mine.

Relief washes over me as I find her blonde braid, her eyelids flying open. Worry and sadness fill her brilliant blue eyes, and I pull her closer, kissing the top of her head and sitting up. We sit there for a few moments, comforting each other without saying or really doing anything. Her presense gives me hope and keeps me holding on to myself, and I can she's relieved I'm still with her.

Gale is snoring lightly against a tree trunk, and I see the two-year-old curled up against my sister's leg, somehow sleeping through the loud boom. Untensing my body, I rise and am about to start looking for some water when Prim scrambles to her feet suddenly, panic now filling her eyes.

"Where's Rory?!"

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

When I hear Prim ask where Rory was, I'm instantly on my feet.

"What do you mean, 'Where's Rory?!'" I asked, struggling to keep the panic off my voice, "how long has he been gone?!"

"I don't know!" she replies, obviously scared as she starts for the woods, her speed surprising me for only a moment before Katniss is at my heels.

_This is my own damn fault, _I scold myself mentally, heart racing and body pumping adrenaline. If anybody put their hands on my little brother, I'll kill them without blinking.

Nobody touches my brother.

Simple as that.

Suddenly, Prim's high-pitched scream hits the air. Katniss and I are in perfect step with each other, bursting through the underbrush and horror filling both of our faces. Cato is standing there now, and my little brother is standing there in front of him as a sword is pulled out of his side. I am frozen in place as she catches him, falling to her knees as his head bounces as it hits her lap.

Cold, hard reality yanks me out of my shock as I punch Cato full-force in the jaw. The cracking noise satsifies me, but it doesn't faze him. His blood-drenched sword drills into my flank, but I spin, despite the wave of pain that brings black dots to my eyes as I elbow him in the neck, slamming his skull against a tree. We both fall to the ground, stumbling to our feet best we can, blood pouring onto both of our shoulders.

"This isn't over..." he is retreating, though, "I told you, Hawthorne. I will...I will win this."

The second he's gone, his blood trail heavily flowing behind him, I fix my eyes back on my alliance. The horror and shock set in instantly when I see his condition, how heavily he's bleeding and his pain twisted into unimaginable pain. I can't find the energy to move as the rage and realization brings tears to my eyes.

"Rory..." even Prim's sorrowful voice is fading in my mind until only two thoughts remain, echoing in my skull and ripping my heart.

Cato has killed my brother.

And now I will kill him.

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

"Rory..." I'm trying to keep my face and voice calm, but both of them are tear-filled as I brush his blood-drenched black hair out of his face, "Rory, you're...you're going to be okay."

"B-but I'm dy-dying..." he chokes out, the tears mixing in my his own blood as he heaves out sobs, which only make his wounds dry faster and faster.

"Shhhh," I'm not going to tell him he's not; we both know that would be a lie, "shhhhh. Hey...it's okay, it's okay."

"B-but..." he is sobbing even harder, and I stroke the side of his face, kissing his eyes gently as I grip his hand in my other one.

"No buts," I don't struggle to much to hold him in my arms, and his light weight haunts me, "I promise you're going to be okay, alright?"

"I d-don't w-want to di-die..." he sputters, and I kiss his eyes again, then his nose, his cheeks, and even his lips.

"You're going to a beautiful place now, Rory," I say in his ear, choking down my own tears best I can as I rub his soaked back, rocking him a little bit and ignoring all of his blood drenching my outfit and hair, "and you'll never hurt there again."

His eyes are beginning to fade as he slurs a little, "It hurts now, though."

Pressing my tiny hand against the wound, I ask with tears splattering my cheeks, "Is that better?"

"Yeah..." he tries to smile as his face relaxes, "I'll see you there one day, right? In the beautiful place where...where there's not hurt?"

"That's right," I'm about to start sobbing, but I have to be strong and I know it, "just relax...you'll be there soon. Say...say hi to my dad for me, okay?"

"I'll get to see my dad, too..." he looks at peace now as his eyes fix on me, both of us somehow knowing I was the last person he'd ever see in this life, "I...I love you, Prim."

My heart reshatters, "I love you too, Rory. I'll see you soon."

He manages a smile, and that's when a cannon booms and echoes in my head as well as the distance. Tears pour out of my eyes freely now as I sob, caressing his face and covering his body. The hovercraft is overhead, but I don't want them to take him, not now. Eventually, it leaves, letting me sob over his lifeless body, sniffling and becoming weak, not caring if anyone else saw or heard.

I just lost someone I've always known deep down inside I've loved.

Tears are coming out of Katniss eyes as well as she stands in front of we too, protecting us best she can as Gale falls to the ground. He sags over, tears rushing out of eyes silently as he grips a fistfull of leaves, face red and twisting into rage and sorrow. We remain like this until my sobs finally quiet down, and when Gale screams out and bangs his fist against the ground, the sound echoes in the trees and bounces across the almost dead-silent arena, it seems.

As I pull back from Rory's lifeless corpse and gaze at all the blood over both of us, I decide that he shouldn't have to die looking like this. He was a sweet, innocent kid who never deserved a fate like this; he deserves respect.

Even from the Capitol.

Rising, I begin to clean off his body with leaves and anything else I can find, even pouring the remainder of our water to wash out of his hair best I can. He is soon pretty clean, and I lay his head on the softest spot of grass I can find, caressing his cold face weakly with my blood-stained fingers.

"I'm sorry..." I whisper weakly, "I'm so sorry."

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

I can't breathe.

I can't see, and I can barely gain my bearings. I can't think straight as Beetee, Wiress, Kyle, and I all stumble blindly, screaming and clawing at anything we can in attempt to escape the horrible green gas.

Suddenly, I crash into another figure who is shaking and screaming in as much agony as I am. Somehow I make out that it is Finnick Odair, and his little sister is behind him, writhering in pain as she collaspes, and the old lady is unconscience on his back.

"Cover..." he croaks out, and that's when I see what he's looking at.

A spring.

I know we're not an alliance, but I hook my arms around his ribcage, pulling us both with strength I don't have until I fall face-first into the water. He lands beside me, and I hear three more splashes just before I black out from relief of the burns.

_**Rue's P. O. V. **_

"Primrose?!"

I hear sobs coming from the distance, and I instantly take off, Rose at my heels. As I come closer to her cries, I suddenly come across the baby from District Eight. She looks confusing and is crying with her all, but that's not the worse part.

The worse part is that Cato has his hands on either side of neck, ready to snap it, and his eyes are boring into me.

"Where do you think you're going, District Eleven?"


	22. Baby

Warning 22

**_Rue's P. O. V. _**

"Let me through..." I try to demand this in a strong, confident voice, like I'd heard Katniss use, but it's more of a timid, shaky squeak right now with the fear that is pretty much paralyzing me.

"Really, District 11? You'll let this sweet little baby die?" he grips the baby's neck tighter, and both of us gasp as tears pour out of her eyes frantically, fear shining in them as well as confusion and pleading.

She can't fight through this. She never had once hint of hope in her favor, even though she was adorable. People couldn't sponsor her because she was a tribute, and they were obviously bored with her brother, because he was long gone and I didn't see any help coming for her. No, she is totally helpless, and I am the only one that can save her now.

"Let her go," my voice is a little more strong and confident now, but it's still uncertain.

"I'll give you a choice," Cato grins like the madman he is, and suddenly he's reached out and snagged Rose's neck, pulling her to him tightly in a death grip, where one flick of her wrist could end her life, "little Rosie here, or little Rainy?"

**_Rose's P. O. V. _**

He's crushing my neck.

I look at Rue fearfully. If she chooses the baby, then I will die. Our brothers and sisters will have to watch her kill her own sister, to kill me off for a child she doesn't know at all. But if she chooses me, the baby will die.

But...she's just a baby.

Both of them look so scared, and the Career boy looks so smug. How can he do such a thing to my older sister? She never did anything to him, and now he wants to torture her and kill a baby and me.

Why?

_**Rain's P. O. V. **_

The bad man is hurting me. He looks happy, but he's talking to a big girl in a mean voice. He is hurting the other girl, too.

"I..." the big girl looks really scared, "I chose Rose."

The bad man laughs, and I hear a great big snap. He drops me on the ground, and I scream in pain. It hurts so, so, so, bad...

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

"Rainlynn!" my head shoots up from where I'm now sulking miserably on the ground, and I take off instantly, even though I'm not very armed at all.

When I make it to her screams, I realize that she is with Cato, Rue, and ROse. Rue is clutching Rose to her chest, both of them sobbing their eyes out, as Cato laughs manically, coming closer with a crazed look in his eyes that says he knows he's won. Rainlynn is laying on the forest floor, screaming but not moving, and the angle she's twisted in tells me her neck's snapped.

_She's going to die. _

_**Gale's P. O. V. **_

When Katniss and I catch up with Primrose, we are greeted with horror. All of our alliance, minus my brother...we're finally all together, all against Cato. But the little baby's neck is broken, and I know instantly that her time has come far, far, far too soon. Prim is kneeling beside her, sobbing with renewed volume, and Katniss freezes beside me, horrified.

"You son of a bitch!" I yell at the top of my lungs, and I have knocked Cato off his feet in one large punch. Bones smash beneath me, making a satisfying noise underneath my knuckles.

Before he can react to it, I scoop a screaming Prim up, just like a did at the reaping before. She fights me, even though it's futile. The only thing she does different, though, is what she wails.

"We can still save her!" she sobs, squirming frantically, "there's still time...Gale, there's still time!"

But by this time, Cato has recovered enough to throw one arm around my neck. He yanks back, but I'm taller than him, so I shoulder him heavily, making him stumble back. That's when he finds his sword and strikes me across the stomach, making it soaked with not only sweat, but blood now, too. There's no chance I can surrvive a fight with him without a weapon, so I go ahead and scoop up the dying Rainlynn and take off for the woods. His footsteps are heavy as he follows us, but I can't really tell if it's him or Katniss, Rue, and Rose.

"Here," I'm breathing heavily, my heart begging for me to stop so I can catch my breath and think straight as I set down Prim in a hurry, laying Rain in her arms, "get in the trees. Meet me later."

"Be safe..." she whispers softly, eyes still shining with tears, and my heart wretches sympathy. The kid's been through a lot at such a young age; it really isn't fair.

"Hey..." I pant, squeezing her shoulders once firmly, "I'll still you for supper, alright?"

There's no time for her to respond. Even though doing so was a nice geusture, comforting her lost ground between Cato and I. Turning on my heel sharply, I take off into the arena.

I don't care where I'm going; all I know is I've got to get there.

* * *

_**Katniss' P. O. V. **_

Rue and Rose are petrified, and they look horrified, like they just had to witness one of the most horrible things they knew they'd ever have to see.

After I saw that baby, I couldn't agree with them more.

But I know that I can't be depressed right now. The more human feelings about death will settle in later; I've got to get us out of here. Even though I haven't seen her yet, Cato does have a District partner, and the Careers always travel in a pack until they turn on each other for the Victor's crown for that year. And if he manages to catch Gale, there's a very good chance he'll die.

If that happens, who knows where I'll be?

I've got to protect these two while I still can. Beign strong isn't strongly needed; it's vital and futile. To win these Games, you can't mourn over the deaths of those you love. You've got to keep moving, and you've got to do even what can't.

Prim learned that before I did.

"Rose...let's go," Rue finally says softly, voice shaky with grief and guilt, and her little sister looks up to her, horrified.

"You killed her...Rue, you killed that baby," she says, tears streaming down her face as she clenches her small, bony fists to her side, "why? Why didn't you chose her so she didn't have to die?"

"I couldn't lose you..." Rue's eyes are shining, even though their already splotchy, and I step between them, placing a hand on both of their shoulders.

"We have to keep moving, you two," I say as gently as I can, but my voice is still tight, yet hollow sounding, like all of this isn't affecting me like it is them, when I'm actually screaming inside and want more than anything to get out of here, the place of so many deaths.

Slowly, she backs away from both of us. She looks to her older sister fearfully, then to me with uncertaintly...

And then seven-year-old Rose runs away.

"Rose!" Rue screams at the top of her lungs, taking off after her, but she must have taken to the trees. Within five minutes, she's rushed back to me, she is a mess of crying andf heaving sobs, sinking to her knees and just bawling loudly enough to attract all of the tributes in the arena.

"We've got to keep moving," I say softly, trembling a little bit myself as I scoop her up.

She is lightweight, just like my own sister. I've got more faith now that Prim can handle herself for a while, at least long enough for we two to recover a little and find her. As a cannon echos in the distance, I can only pray that it's not Gale's and Rose's, that they will be able to make it through the night.

The horrible thing is, though, that's it's likely one of them will die before the sun rises again.

* * *

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

"So, you're in love with the oldest Everdeen?"

Finnick's question both surprises and embarrasses me. I never exactly broadcasted that fact, but after we two's little make-out session the first night she was in the Capitol, someone was bound to see, and then to talk about it. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't in some Capitol magazine or Hunger Games TV special on the tributes.

"Since I was five," I reply, stretching out in the water.

Wiress and Beetee are talking softly about something over to the corner, fiddling with the scraps on the island, Mags is sleeping near we two, and Fia is soaking with we two. Granted, she's further off, her hair covering most of her bare back as she treats her acid-burns in the magical water. There's got to be a catch; something not meant to destroy we tributes is way too easy, and way too boring for the Capiolties.

"Nice," he suddenly gets a distanced look in his eyes, "I've been obsessed with a girl back home for almost that long, too."

"She got a name?" he was one of the youngest Victors of the Hunger Games in history, only being topped by a couple of thirteen years olds, and then Rue, who was only twelve when she won last year; Capitol women crawl all over his perfect body constantly.

"Annie. She lives in District 4, too," he admits, "she's...a little crazy since she went into the Games. But I love her more than anything."

I realzie he's talking about Annie Cresta, Victor of the 71st Hunger Games. She went mad after watching her ally be decaptitated in front of her, and she ran off and hid until a damn broke and flooded the arena. Being from the District with an ocean came in handy; she was a strong swimmer, so she won.

He's a pretty cool guy, then, if he loves a crazy girl back in his home instead of the fancy, fake Capiolite women.

"That's cool," I nod in approval, sitting up now and deciding to dry off best I can in the sun before anything else 'fun' happens to use. We've been here for almost a full day, but it's never too let to begin torture again.

_**Finnick's P. O. V. **_

Talking about her makes me miss her all that much more.

I look to Mags, who is still sound asleep. She's so old and so frail, and yet she volunteered for my Annie's place. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to make it very long in the state she was in, especially when she was already going hysterical, so she decided to put her own life on the line. I refuse to beleive she won't be able to win; she did when she was a normal tribute, she can make a fish hook out of anything, and she was my mentor and is my friend.

But she's so _old_.

That's when the ground explodes beneath my feet.

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

Rainlynn is dying in my arms.

"Prim, I can't feel my legs...why can't I feel my legs, Prim?" she croaks out, and since she does, I know that her neck is totally shattered or snapped, but it is hurt pretty badly.

_She's probably not going to make it through the night. _

"Don't worry," it's a fight with each word, but I manage to make voice sound low and comforting to sooth her nerves, even the ones deadened now, "you're going to be alright. I'm not going to let anything else hurt you."

"Bad man hurt me bad, Prim,"

"I know he did. We're going to hurt the bad man to make it up to you. Does that sosund good?"

She just looks to me with big, sad eyes, and tears leak out of my eyes and stream down my face. Taking a deep breathe, forcing myself to remain calm, I stroke the side of her small face and begin to sing softly.

_Just close your eyes, _

_The sun is going down. _

_You'll be alright, _

_No one can hurt you now. _

_Come morning light, _

_You and all be safe...and...sound. _

Pretty soon, she's fast asleep, gripping one of my hands. Her sleeping means she more than likely won't wake up, and my heart shatters again for the second time today.

"She's two," I look at the camera in the tree trunk I noticed earlier, raising up my middle finger and growling, "she is _two_. I swear on everything that is good, I will avenge her. I will avenge Rory, too...and soon, I will kill every one of you."

With that, I punch out the lens, sealing my fate.


	23. Stregnth

Warning 23

_**Rose's P. O. V. **_

I watch as a girl with an axe looks around.

She has an axe in her hand, and she looks really, really mad about. I wonder what's she mad about, but I don't ask. I know she is looking for me, and I'm scared that she'll hurt me with her axe if she finds me.

So I keep hiding in a tree and hope that her and Rue don't find me.

* * *

_**Finnick's P.O.V. **_

I knew that a place to treat burns was too easy.

The explosion right under my feet knocked me back into the lake, and Fia whirls around, looking just as freaked out as I feel. Peeta submerges after a minute, sputtering and trying to focus his vision, and Beetee's and Wiress' heads shoot up instantly. Mags somehow sleeps on, and I raise my hands, signaling for everybody not to move. Even so, I notice Fia pulling her shirt back on over her underclothes, making me roll my eyes a little before I tenetively pick up a rock and toss it out in front of me.

_**BOOM!** _

There is suddenly a crater of dirt and smoke in front of me, and I grimance, "They just activated landmines."

"How do we know where they are?" Fia asks, starting to walk towards me before I can yell at her to stay where she was.

**_BOOM! _**

There is total silence in the arena for a moment.

**_BOOM! _**

That last echoing blast wasn't from a landmine.

It was all in the blink of an eye. First my little sister, only fourteen years old, was there, and now she isn't. Obviously there are landmines in the water as well, and now the bits that were her body are blooding said water. My heart starts to crack instantly as I stiffle back a scream, turning my back and trying desperately to keep my head on straight for now.

_**Peeta's P. O. V. **_

Finnick just lost his little sister in the blink of an eye, thanks to her own ignorance.

Poor guy.

I can tell he's struggling with dealing with his emotions in such a peril time, and I don't really blame him. Kyle is staring at the spot she was just a moment, still sitting in lake, and I grimance. Even though he's nineteen and she was fourteen, I could tell he had a thing for her; this must break his heart, too. And suddenly, I realize just what he's going to do a split second before he does it.

There's no time to scream.

_**BOOM! **_

_**Beetee's P. O. V. **_

I can't believe that Fia and Kyle basically just commited suicide, but at the same time, I can.

The Games will push anyone to their breaking point, and they slaughter anybody who is ignorant, in love, or too scared to kill. It did that to Wiress, even she was the Victor of her Game. She is a broken Victor, just like the rest of us, but to what justice does it bring not to die?

There isn't any.

So I don't really blame those two.

"Let's just stay here for a while..." Finnick says, his voice cracking despite his attempts to keep calm and carry on, and Peeta nods shakily in response.

I may not blame Fia and Kyle, but it's obvious they do.

* * *

_**Rainlynn's P. O. V. **_

"Pweety..."

The pretty silver thing is falling out of the sky. It lands on my stomach, and I giggle. It hurts a little, but it's still really pretty.

"Prim, pweety!"

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

I think for a moment she's calling me pretty until I see the parachute now on her stomach.

"Yes, Rainlynn..." I gasp out, opening the package with fumbling fingers with tears forming in my eyes instantly of relief, "it's very pretty, isn't it?"

It's a miracle that she made it this long into the night and that she woke up again, and now we actually have sponsors after all I've said to the Capital. Instead the package is a neck brace, one that is small and built just for Rainlynn, and I about sobbing in joy on the spot. Whoever sent must have cost two arms and about three legs; I squint in the darkening arena to just make out the words on the paper.

**_People like you, kid. Don't screw it up. _**

**_~Haymitch _**

_Haymitch. _

I have to admit, I almost forget about him. He hadn't been a big help leading up to all of this; he'd been too busy getting wasted. At the same time, I can't say I can blame him. He was the Victor of the last Quarter Quell, after all; there is no doubt the Capital isn't letting him live _that _down now.

"Thank you...Bless you all," I whisper, sitting Rain up a little as I carefully fastion the brace, since I've done it a couple times in our kitchen with Mother.

The pain in her youthful eyes lossens a bit as she coos out softly, "Feel better, Pwim."

"That's so good..." tears pour out of my eyes and splatter on my cheeks as well as her stomach as I bend over her, sobbing quietly in relief and joy as hope fills my gut just a bit.

Maybe we can actually win; maybe we can actually escape.

* * *

_**Rue's P. O.V. **_

I am not as strong as the others' are; that's proven by how I'm handling losing my sister.

The entire time we were on the move, Katniss had to carry me. I was shaking way too much to actually walk or I was sobbing my eyes out into the back of neck, and now we're underneath a large tree, the roots almost swallowing us whole as we kind of hide away from the rest of the tributes' eyes and hopefully the cameras.

"I'm so scared..." I whisper to her, even though it's obvious we both are.

She just nods, her mind probably drifting to other, more important things. I'm not sure about her, but I'm petriefied for Rose, Prim, that baby, and Gale's sakes. If I lost any of them, I'm not sure just how much longer I'd be able to last before I'd be pushed over my breaking point. Almost as if on cue, the Capital music plays throughout this lonely place as the death toll goes up for the day.

**Dead: **The District Two brother and sister, the two tributes from Six, the District Seven male tribute, the District 8 tributes, and all of the contenders from Districts Nine and Ten..

Those were the deaths from the bloodbath yesterday. The new deaths:

**_Leslean Heans, District 3 _**

**_Fia Odair, District 4 _**

**_Kyle Mellerk, District 12 _**

Leslean Heans was the older sister of one the District 3 female tribute, so she's not really on my concern list. But somehow, Finnick's little sister died, and so did Peeta's older brother did as well. Katniss looks horrrifed, confused, and disgusted as the sky returns to it's normal night state, and I squeeze her shoulders gently, choking back my own sobs.

I better learn stregnth pretty fast before her own gives out...

* * *

_**President Snow's P. O. V. **_

This is quite wonderful, isn't it?

Three deaths join the already legnthy list; we will have to slow down the death rate if we are to make these Games interesting. Those five take me as a fool who does not know of their plans, and of their goals to bring the already sparked fire of a rebellion. It is no matter of what they do not know of my knowledge, at any rate, because I will simply crush them and that will be that.

Power is a delicate thing, on the other hand. With the certain bend of it on a certain person, it can strike fear into their hearts and souls, haunting them and eventually destroying them. However, it can also inflict something stronger.

And the only thing stronger than fear is hope.


	24. Two days later

Warning 24

Author Note: I am horrible updater :( *Hangs head shamefully*

* * *

**_Rue's P. O.V. _**

Stretching out my fingers tentively, I trace the rough bark of a tree, letting them fumble when they locate a small hole that's large enough to slip my pinkie finger under.

When it's lifted, the sap dripping out makes my heart sore. It's been two since Katniss and I lost track of everyone else, and since we have, we've been a little too terrified to try and move. Both of us know Snow must be planning something for us; we probably would be dead if he wanted us to be by now. But since we haven't moved from the tree, hidding in the limbs mainly, we're both knawed with mild hunger and our mouths and body demand water.

Basically, the sap is a blessing from the Gamemakers.

"Katniss," I say softly, shaking her awake best I can, "look!"

Her eyes go wide when she sees said sap, and the two of us don't waste much time at all drinking it, taking turns pressing our lips to it. It's somehow sweet and filling, but the second I sit back, my stomach gurgles and twists painfully.

The sap must have had something it...

* * *

_**Peeta's P. O.V.** _

Kyle and Fia may be dead, but their ghosts are haunting us physically.

The two of them walk between Finnick and I, staring emptily at us with unblinking eyes. They look just like they did before they were blown to bits, just more transparently, but they waver if we try to touch them. Their very presense, which is now mute and constant, is eating away at my soul, and by the look of severe pain in Finnick's eyes, I know he feels the same.

_**BOOM! **_

The sound echos everywhere against the twilight that confirms it's been two days since their deaths. Subconsciously and numbly, I wonder who it is as we move on, the ghosts, Beetee, and Wiress is tote. Our alliance's smalless is disturbing, almost as much as knowing they are still with it, but at the same time, it sickeningly comfortingly.

I'm one step closer to making it out alive.

**_Finnick's P. O.V. _**

The Capital will never get tired of taking things from me.

Being one of the youngest Victors they've had from the Games, they were all ready to get their hands on me. They showed me and made sure to flaunt me as the sexist man in Panem, since my natural handsomeness was a huge bonus, and then when I started to try and avoid them, Snow forced my love to be the only thing keeping me alive. Oh sure, the Capitalite women absoutely loved it while I was silently suffering.

Now I'm back in these damn Games, and they look my little sister, too.

The only reason they didn't take my Annie is because Mags volunteered. Sweet old Mags, who will die if she doesn't have any kind of protector in her old age.

If they take her too, I am going to lose it.

* * *

**_Prim's P. O.V._ **

Rainlynn's neck has been healing the past couple of days; that's a blessing in itself. It was also likely pure luck, and luck doesn't run long or very deep in a place like this. The feeling that something big and possibly deadly is about to happen sharpens my instricts instantly, and apparently, rightfully so. Suddenly, our entire tree shakes, nearly jarring both of us out of it as it wavers to stay standing.

I waste no time.

Grabbing Rainlynn, who's eyes are now alert with waking, I jump to the nearest tree, shaking quite a bit from shock and fear. It was a good thing I moved us as quickly as I did; in under the next minute, the tree falls to the crowd, crushing the limbs inside of it while the chopper goes to the trunk without missing a beat. She's the deadly Johanna Mason, the District 7 female tribute who'd outsmarted everyone and won years ago.

If she finds us, we just might be screwed.

That's when Rain emits a wail, making both of our heads snap to look at her. Tears are streaming down both of our cheeks as Johanna comes closer, visions of her chopping both of our heads off with her axe flashing vigorously and vividly in my head.

"You're that little District 12 girl," she states in a hard tone, and I tense, which makes Rain cry a little harder, since she's obviously petrified enough.

"Y-yes," I reply to her shakily, then think about how brave Katniss would be in the face of her pending death. Sniffing a couple of times, I wipe away my tears best I can, wiping my face clean of emotion as best I can as I turn to face her.

"Ugh," she rolls her eyes when I do, "do you really think I'm going to kill you and this baby?"

This question catches me off gaurd. After seeing her so easily murder the tributes in her Games, I would think that she'd have no problem killing a twelve year old with a two year old. But the look on her face says she's legitament, and slowly, I ease myself down, keeping Rain close to my side and pushing her gently behind me the second our feet hit the ground. Johanna approaches me boldy, looking me over and scowling just a bit, as if she just realized something unpleasant.

"You're small," she says with the disgusted face, then slowly, her lips turn into a small smirk, "you're supposed to be dead right now, aren't you?"

I get the horrible feeling she's about to change her mind about sparing us.

"I should've been dead a long time ago," I say in a tone that's sucessfully pretty confident and collected, "when the Games started last year, my death should've come in the bloodbath. But I'm still here, now aren't I?"

The way she stares at me she will either do one of two things in the next minute:

1.) She'll chop my head off with her axe, which she just picked up.

2.) We'll become an alliance.

_**BOOM!**_

* * *

_**Katniss' P. O.V.**_

The sap we ate was poisionous.

Both Rue and I were able to force it out of our systems, and now I'm taking first watch. The sky suddenly darkens, and two faces lite up the sky as the Capital theme music plays loudly everywhere.

_**Cato Livingston, District One**_

My heart soars. Gale somehow did it; he killed Cato. Prim is finally out of the greatest dangerous, and now all we'll have to do is reunite. It's been a long time since I felt so excited...

But it is suddenly replaced.

_**Gale Hawthorne, District Twelve**_

My entire body goes numb. Gale...dead?

Suddenly, I'm unaware of what's real and what isn't. I feel something warm, and something in the back of my mind registers I'm shaking Rue. It's definately time for me to close my eyes and pretend this is just a nightmare; I have to get out of this world before the demons of darkness reattack onto my mind. I'm not sure how long I shake her until a horror dawns in my eyes, a horror that sends me spiraling into a cold, endless darkness.

Rue is not waking up.

* * *

_**?'s P. O.V. **_

Tonight, my face lights up the sky.

But I'm fooling everybody. Thanks to my cunning nature and my intellegence, I've made it looked like I've died along with my mortal enemy.

Now all I have to do is find Katniss.


	25. How could you?

Warning 25

**_?s P. O.V. _**

Slowly, I pull the knife out of her chest.

He is staring at me in couple shock, and I just shrug, taking the edge of my shirt and cleaning off her clotting blood. The hovercraft blares loudly above our heads, and her body is slowly lifted into the sky. He continues staring at me as I watch her be lifted inside, ultaimtely leaving my life for good.

"What?" I demand, and slowly, a diblical smirk makes it's way across his face.

"...You've got the right idea."

* * *

_**Rose's P. O. V. **_

The sound of a cannon wakes me up.

_**BOOM!**_

It's becoming night now, so a girl's face lights up the screen. She has dark brown hair in a braid over her shoulder, and dark gray eyes. She is staring expressionless out, and with a gasp I realize exactly who this girl is.

_Katniss Everdeen, District Twelve _

...Unbelivable.

**_*Line break because the little line keeps disappearing*_**

* * *

_**Prim's P. O. V. **_

Johanna spared me, and for that, I am extremely grateful. But then I see the face lighting up the sky, and my heart plummets down so far it is no longer a part of my being.

_Katniss Everdeen, District Twelve_

"But how...?"

I'm not sure if I say it verbally and inwardly as I start shaking violently, sinking to my knees instantly. Her face remains burned in my mind even after it fades away along with the Capital music, and I grip my hands tightly in front of me. My mind can't process that my fearless, intellegent, kind, loving older sister is somehow...

_Gone._

* * *

**_Rue's P. O. V. _**

The world is groggy when I unglue my matted eyes from being shut for who knows how long.

Sitting up slowly, my bones and muscles popping in protest, I look around. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I remember passing out after that syrup got in my system. Now I'm propped up against the large tree, looking around in a daze with a desert for a mouth. My back is stiff and my head is aching, but I manage to push those feelings aside as I sit on my hands, which are numb.

"Katniss?" I croak out, squinting through the darkness.

I only see the blade glint for a second in the moonlight before it impales my stomach.

* * *

**_Johanna's P. O.V. _**

The kid has completely shut down after one loss, which isn't anything compared to my own _countless _numbers.

She sits on her knees, unmoving and staring straight ahead. Her older sister obviously meant a lot to her, because she's hit rock bottom and, by the looks of it, she isn't comig back up for a while. I always knew that was weak, but not simply because she's thirteen. Her personality is as weak as I portrayed myself in my first Games, and I seriously doubt she's going to make it much farther, especially since I can't help her out when it comes to depression.

I never was really good at making friends, anyway.

Now I look at the baby. Well, I guess if this kid could live through last year's Games to try comitting suicide to saver her friends, it would make sense for her to keep this baby alive so long. The neck brace is whatever kind of thing- she's still alive. She shrinks away from my intense gaze, and I smirk, plunging my sword into the wood of another tree. Those damn Gamemakers will want to keep us alive a little longer now- they just lost one of the biggest Sponsor-bringers. People were enchanted by Katniss Everdeen when she became the 'Girl on Fire' and by volunteering for her sister...so then what did her sister do? She made a surprise appearance at the interviews. went in the Games, died but then relived, and here we all are.

In a sense, Katniss Everdeen's death was the result Primrose's own stupidity.

**...**

**_Prim's P. O.V. _**

_Dad. The Peacekeeper. The hobo on the train. Mom. Foxface. Myself. Rory._

Compared to someone like Johanna, I haven't a lost. Losing your parents when you're not even a teenager is no easy thing to endure, of course, but it's better than losing everything. There were two people I'd helped that ended up gone before I was offically in the Games, and then a lost my ally in my first Hunger Game.

I died.

Then I returned.

I lost my developing love in these Games already because of a murder.

For some reason, I just can't fully process the new name added to the list of those I've lost: _Katniss. _

Her death shakes me worse than any other, and I suppose it's natural. She was my protector before, and she was our lifeline after Dad died and Mom checked out of reality. I was too scared to try going into the woods or to kill anything, and when I did I was brought to tears, probably scaring off most of our diner that night. Back then I was unexcusably weak, and she was the entire reason I lived.

And now, after all we've both been through, she ended up dying.

Because of the Capital.

Anger burns deep inside of me, but I can't find it in myself to try and find her killer. My entire being seems hollow, like she who I was becoming and now I'm confused more than anything. Without her around, I'm not sure what I can do; I know I'm stronger, but not anymore. My entire family is dead, and now all t I've got left is Rue, Peeta, Rainlynn, and possibly Johanna.

_I will never be the same._

* * *

**_Rose's P. O. V. _**

A man who I thought was a friend just tried to kill my big sister.

Even though I'm really scared, I run to her side. She gasps at the weapon in her stomach as she leans her head back, all of her blood coming out. I look at him with wide, teary eyes; what if she dies?

My voice shaking, " I whisper through my crying, "How could you, Gale?"


	26. Betrayal

Warning 26

**_Rue's P.O.V_ **

The pain is causing a white light to slowly begin obscuring my line of vision.

"Rue..." Rosie's soft, shaking voice whispers my name, obviously terrified and worried, "please don't die, Rue."

The light suddenly fades, and a flashback takes the place of the searing pain:

* * *

_***Begin flashback***_

_"Wow..." A familiar soft voice whispered behind her, and she turned just in time to see the red bow fall to the side of her youngest sister's head, "you look beautiful."_

_"And you..." she replied with a smile, bending down just a bit to adjust the bow back into her sister's braid, "look adorable." _

_"Thank you!" Raisly chirped happily at the compliment herself, hugging her around the neck before stepping back to admire her oldest sibling's new sundress with the daisies sewed in, "Rue...you won't get reaped, right?" _

_Since she'd practiced while alone in the tree's, she responded easily, "Of course not."_

_"But...but what if you do?" nine-year-old Tarsah asked softly and hiestantly before five-year-old Raisly could. _

_The curious eyes of the rest of the other five siblings went to her questioningly. Rue, being the oldest, was like their leader and partly their lifeline along with their parents, and it was her first year to be entered. But the most worrying part, though, was that her name was in there eight times instead of the usual one, simply because the family needed the extra tessarae. _

_"Then you guys have to be strong..." she couldn't help but look over to eleven-year-old Jackson, "no matter what."_

_She watched him swallow his dry throat, and it looked as if he was about to speak before eight-year-old Stephan piped up, "I promise." _

_"Yeah..." Jackson half-whispered, sounding worried, weak, but sincere, "I promise, too." _

_"I promise," Tarsah and Rose spoke in unison, and Raisly nodded, though Rue kind of doubted that she'd understand totally what was completely riding on line when she was so young. _

_"Alright," the twelve-year-old leaned out and kissed their foreheads in turn, "let's get this over with, alright?"_

**_*Flashback shift*_**

_"Rue-"_

_The second she heard her first name called she felt absolute terror. Her body went rigid and stiff as the other twelve-year-old's shifted their gaze to her, most of them relieved but others symapthtic. Taking a deep breathe, she became detirmined that she was not going to cry and that she was going to be the bravest twelve-year-old to step on that stage. Holding up her head best she could, she walked up the steps without the Peacekeepers pulling her, and stood there, mentally aware of how small she was, especially when Thresh was reaped. _

_She knew right then she was going to have to be swift and smart if she was going to win, and that she wasn't going to cry; she was going to be a winner. _

**_*Flashback shift* _**

_"You said you weren't going to get reaped..." tears were pouring out of Tarsah's eyes as she clung to her older sister's waist, "what if you die, Rue? I don't wanna lose you!"_

_"You're not going to lose me," she promised quickly and softly, gently prying her arms from around her waist and looking every single one of them in the eye in turn, "I'm going to win." _

_"Well...you are really quick..." Raisly spoke hiestantly. _

_"Yes!" Rue nodded in encouragement. _

_"And you're really smart, and quiet..." Stephan offered in himself, smiling and looking a little more assured when she nodded. _

_"Maybe you can win!" Tarsah seemed more assured, but still scared._

_"What if you don't, though?" Rose was always a realist, and the six siblings stood in silence for a moment as Jackson's eyes met her own. _

_"We have to be strong. No matter what," he repeated, almost in a whisper. _

_"You will too...won't you?" Raisly looked at her as the door began opening, signaling their time was up. _

_"...I promise." _

**_*End flashbacks* _**

* * *

Suddenly, the searng light returns, pulling me back into reality. That promise worked the first time like a charm, but I haven't seen them in months. I won for them the first time, but now that I'm here with little Rose...there is no way I can win with her. Maybe it's better I haven't seen them, just so I can't promise them I'll win when I can't. The only chance is escaping the arena, but who to say any of my alliance are still alive?

I can't do it alone, and right now as it is, I can feel my body dying.

**_Prim's P. O V._**

_I miss Katniss..._

That seems to be the only thing I can know for certain right now, and everything else appears to be a blurr. Like I can hardly tell what's real and what's not, and what's going to happen next. Shivering as I get back to my feet, I look to Johanna, feeling weak, vuerable, and helpless as I was before that first Reaping Day. I've been trying to be so strong in the last few months, but now I'm falling back down into who I am: Fearful. Timid. Spineless.

Weak.

Somehow, I need my big sister to protect me again, but she's dead and gone and passed tonight.

"Come on, kid," Johanna sighs now, grabbing my arm forcfully and starting to pull me with only half the power she must hold, "we might as well find whatever of your alliance is still alive."

Rainlynn grabs my free hand, and I squeeze her smaller one. She is so small and so, so young, and I suddenly get the spark of an idea and of slight hope. If I can protect her and take care of her just like Katniss used to do with me...maybe I continue to be strong. The odds are completely out of my favor, but maybe, just maybe, I can get at least her out of the arena.

* * *

**_Finnick's P. O. V. _**

I just stare at the artifical sky, even after her picture fades from the sky.

Somehow, the fearless Katniss Everdeen has been killed by another tribute. Obviously it wasn't Cato, considering he, (at least should be,) dead himself; after what Primrose pulled last year, I'm not sure what's real myself. Even the spirits of Fia and Kyle seem surprised somehow, and Peeta is staring blankly into the night, obviously in total shock. There is no way either of us expected this, and both of us know that whoever killed her had to be one of the strongest, and somehow who knew her weak points.

It's still nearly impossible as it is, though.

Mags is asleep with Wiress somewhere nearby, and Beetee is fiddling with some kind of gadget. Sighing to myself softly, considering Peeta will be in no shape to keep watch after we just learned about his love's death, I start patrolling, trying to force my mind back to be straight. If I ever lost Annie that way, I'm not sure what I'd do, especially after I lost Fia recently; poor guy, especially when he just lost Kyle.

Even if I am one of the youngest victors to emerge from the Games, I wouldn't be able to handle that myself and I know it.

A gleam of something silver catches my eye, making me squint against the darkness and grip my trident. It's instantly obvious there's another tribute out, ready to try and kill one of us, which means I'm going to have to fend them off for the time being. I'm faintly aware of Peeta falling to his knees as I push away the underbrush, squinting further with my trident ready to strike/kill. Mentally, I remind myself of what we're up against, at least potientally.

**Dead: Cato, **The District Two brother and sister, Wiress' sister, Fia, the two tributes from Six, the District Seven male tribute, the District 8 tributes, and all of the contenders from Districts Nine and Ten, Katniss, Kyle, and Gale.

**Living: **Cashmere, (the District One girl,) Cashmere's brother, Wiress, Beetee, Mags, the District Fives, Johanana, Rainlynn, Rue, Rose, Peeta, Prim, and I.

That can't be a good thing; we're getting down to our allies. After the District Fives are gone and so are the District Ones, it'll be us fighting each other unless we can still break out. I'm a trained killer, but it won't be easy for me to try and murder people I feel like I was starting to trust. Sighing inwardly, I rip away the brush covering the rest of the attacker's weapon and am almost greeted with getting decipated. Jumping back quickly, I catch the sword between the thongs of my trident, jerking up sharply and letting the sword fly away for his/her grip.

"Nice try," I snarl, grabbing their throat and slamming them into the nearest tree, "who do you think you are?!"

They struggle for a moment, but slowly, it dawns them they won't be getting free from _me_, "I...what's it...?"

"Don't you know it's rude not to answer a direct question?" I almost smirk as I push their neck further into the tree, reconizing that my captive is female, "let's try this again: Who do you think you are?"

Beneath my grip on her, I feel her throat swallow shakily and something wet splash on my hand, "I'm...my name is Selena."

She sounds young, and a part of me wants to let her go to question her without me constraining her like I am. Then again, looks can be extremely decieving, even I know she's only twelve. For all I know, her meek and shy angle for her interview could have been completely fake, and she could be a ruthless killer, even if she isn't a Career.

"What are doing here with a weapon that big?" I ask accusingly, not lessening my grip in the end.

"I..." more wet, hot, salty tears splash onto my hand, and I resist the urge to tell her to stop her crying and making me feel like the monster I am, "I have to go home, Mr. Odair."

_She knows my name. _

The realist in my tells me that _everyone _knows my name and who I am, but it's still takes me off gaurd a bit. She definatley is good at acting like she has good intentions, even if she truthfully (possibly) doesn't. Either way, I loosen my hold on her neck slightly, and judging by how she gasps out, I've made it easier for her to breath. Much to my displeasure, though, it makes it easier for her to start crying all that harder.

"You're going to attract the other tributes," I sigh, covering her mouth firmly with the hand that was holding her neck.

She sees her opening the second I let go.

Quickly, she ducks between my legs, grabbing the trident from my loseened grip and yanks back. It clatters to the ground instantly, and she moves like a bolt, pulling it away from me as fast as she can manage and sitting on it. Rolling my eyes for a momnt, I grab the other end and jerk up, making her hit the ground shoulder-first while I regain a grip on my weapon. She starts scrambling in the other direction, but I'm faster; in no time, she's pinned to another tree by my foot in her stomach. Just like before, she begins crying and struggling uselessly, but this time I just dig my foot in a little harder.

"Shut up!" I hiss out.

"Please, Mr. Odair...I don't wanna die!" she hiccups miserably and pathetically, bringing up her hands to hide her teary face against the darkness and myself.

"Niether do I," grabbing her neck, I pin her sharply to the tree and put the tips of my trident points into her chest, making her scream loudly and start fighting with everything she has.

"Finnick?" Peeta's voice already sounds more hollow and empty, "what're you doing?"

After he's already learned of the death of Katniss Everdeen, bringing up death is probably not a good topic. Rolling my eyes again and sighing inwardly, I let this Selena girl drop to ground, making her yelp and scramble away, toward the bushes. Another cuts her off, though- Mags. Her old hands trembling as always, she feels this girl's face and hair carefully, like an inspector.

Just as I'm about to seperate the two, she manages in her old, paper-thin voice, "Trust."

_Trust?!_

Selena is obviously too young to be a tribute this year, so her sibling can't be far away. Considering who's left in the arena at this point, she's got to be from District Five, which isn't a huge issue but still a faint one. The District Fives really don't pull in a lot of Victors, so I have little doubt whoever else got pulled back in is going to be frantic.

Still cautious, I grab Selena's arm, "Who are you here with?"

"My brother..." She manages fearfully, and the second she tells me, a rustling of leaves tells me he's found us.

* * *

_**Prim's P.O.V.**_

She's laying in the meadow with Rosé at her side, and she looks in a lot of pain.

"Rue!" I gasp, rushing away from Rainlynn and Johanna instantly, "Rue, what happened?!"

"Gale..." She gasps out, and I clutch her hand, bloodied by her stomach wound.

"He wouldn't...he..." I gasp, closing my eyes and letting tears form the first time in months.

My dead sister's love betrayed us.

Leaning over my dying best friend's body, I cry my eyes out.


	27. Escape

Warning 27

**_Selena's POV _**

The old lady tried to convince the great Finnick Odair to trust me; I don't trust them. Not yer, not him, not the Districts Threes, and defiantly not the District Twelve boy. He is like a brother to the little birl who caused my older sister's death: Primrose Everdeen.

Everyone nicknamed my sister Foxface Because of her, in fact.

"Is that your brother?" Finnick's voice is tight and slightly hostile, rigid with evidence I am no more trusted by than him than he is to me.

Slightly, I turn my body in the direction of the rustling, "Jackson?"

A small grunt that's too deep not to be his own is too assuring for it not to calm my nerves, even a bit. It truly was a miracle that he made it through the Games three years ago; he can't talk, so Sponsors didn't come until it was almost too late. He is not very book smart, and he's gruff looking.

But he could kill faster than a Career.

When he emerges, a combination of relief and protectiveness fills my being. His disability makes me fierce when he's around, but I'm just twelve; I can't protect him now and me both know it. Now he towers over me, eyes level with Finnick's, the urge for fighting shining in both of their orbs. Suddenly, a hand latches aroumd my shoulder, making me yelp out loudly and start trying to fight it best I can. Jackson whirls around, dark eyes blazing and dark red hair flying around his face, anger clear.

"Please," the older District Three boy's voice is half begging, "don't do this."

"We have to turn on each other eventually, don't we?" Peeta's voice is tight and rigid, but even more so lifelessly hollow.

That seemed to be all Finnick needed to hear. In an instant, he snatches Peeta's neck, starting to grip harder. I stand there, emotionlessly watching as the baker from District 12's face begins to get very dark and red, the rest of his body not even making an attempt at saving himself. Jackson tackles the District Three male around the waist, his growing darker with the hatred of the other Districts. He's been a lot more tempermental since our sister's death last year; I've been more emotional myself. We both miss her and loved her more than anything else, so he vowed when we were reaped we'd both win somehow, and we'd avenge her.

Now the District Thee female gasps, as if she just realized that my brother was choking her ally. Even though my hands keep shaking, I pick a small knife, aiming it at her heart. I know I've got a decent shot when it comes to aiming at targets, so if I can hit, I'll more than likely kill her. There's a sharp gasp from the District Three male, and his body grows incredibly still after that.

_**BOOM! **_

The cannon fire makes me wince and jerk a little, sending the knife into the ground.

_I can't do this. I can't kill another human being, not like this...not at all. _

Jackson doesn't really seem to mind this, however; he leaps ontop of my almost-kill next. She screams bloody murder, kicking up and squirming, her hands gripping wildly for his eyes and nose.

"Tick tock!" she wails as he grips my fallen knife, holding it up above her chest, "tick tock, tick tock!"

_**BOOM! **_

He pulls out the blade from the gash that runs deep through her chest, the blood pouring onto his hands. Violently shuddering, I look back to Finnick and Peeta; I guess Peeta finally decided he didn't want to die. The two of them are now wrestling around on the ground, fists flying and Peeta kicking when Finnick gets ontop of him; he never really did have a chance against a Victor like him.

"We were allies..." Peeta grunts with wieght, glaring with his eyes shining a little, "what happened?"

"These are the Games, Peeta," he just shook his head, actually looking sad about what he was about to do, "only one of us can win and you know it."

Wincing again, I look back over to Jackson. Much to my horror, he's going after the old lady now; both of us now she'll be easy. Well, she _would _be; Finnick notices Jackson grabbing for her about the same time I do. Like a flash, he's tackled him instead and slams him to the ground, both hands gripping his neck tightly. That lady was his mentor, and he obviously wanted to protect her when she could no longer protect herself. Screaming myself, I fling myself onto Finnick's back, gripping for his own neck to try to get him off my only living sibling left; I know that he'll be killed if I don't stop Finnick.

"You're in over your head, little girl," he retorts under his breath, jerking sharply to one side and sending me flying to the ground.

This action jars Jackson a bit, inpsiring him to jerk up himself and shift the wieght off of his airway. The sight soon resambles what I saw just a couple of minutes between Finnick and Peeta, only their fighting, kicking, and punching isn't resistance at all. By the looks of it, they're both putting all they've got in order to win, and niether of them are going to stop until there's a winner.

I'm not really sure how I feel about that at this point.

* * *

**_Prim's P. O. V. _**

I am shocked, to say the least.

Gale always at least _seemed _to nice. I'd thought for a long time that we'd all like to have a best friend like him, and now...now he was a killer. Not only did he betray us, but he also dishonored both Katniss and Rory.

_Rory. _

There had been something for him deep in my heart, but I never paid much attention to those feelings until his cruel death. He was charming and sweet; now he's dead. It breaks my heart anew as I look back to my dying best friend. I keep losing anybody I dare to get close too, and now it looks like I'm going to lose another. She is one of reasons I'm alive today and one of the main reason I even surrvived the bloodbath of my first Hunger Games; I can no longer repay the favor. Her little sister, Rose, is crying her eyes out over her dying corpse herself, just like Rainlynn, who doesn't really understand what's going on but is definatley scared. Johanna is the only one without tears going down her face as she stands there, emotionlessly.

_There's nobody left I love. _

She'd mentioned that in her interview. Part of me wants to assure her that it was all okay, but truthfully, it's not anymore. Rue now fixes her pain-filled brown eyes on my blue ones, gripping my hand as tightly as she can.

"Chink...in the forcefield," she manages, "forcefield...near the tree."

It clicks in my mind to what she's trying to tell me almost instantly. Swallowing nothing in my dry throat, I nod and get to my feet, hiesatating at the weapon plunged in her stomach. It's a decent size of a sword with a thin blade; it'll probably kill her for me to pull it out.

"R-Rue," I manage, "ar-are you sure?"

"Yes," she speaks softly in a raspy tone, closing her eyes but not letting go of my hand, "I trust you, Prim. I know you've got what it takes to win."

_Without you? Without Katniss? _

Honestly, I don't believe it. But I jerk my arm back suddenly, removing the blade from her gut. She gasps out, finally letting go of my grip and clutching the wound, tears going faster down her own cheeks. It's a miracle in itself she surrvived that part; the faint hope arises that, if I work fast, we might be able to escape after all. Whirling on my heels, I take off from the large tree, hands in front of me blindly until finally, they feel something sold in the air.

_Yes. _

Johanna, I realize, has followed me and is now standing behind me. Her axe is one hand as she surveys me while I step back, squinting to find something, anything, to prove there _is _a chink.

That axe flies a few feet from head and connects with the forcefield.

After that, everything goes white.

* * *

**_Peeta's P. O. V. _**

Katniss is dead. Beetee is dead. Wiress is dead.

Mags almost died.

Finnick almost killed me.

The District Five boy, Jackson, almost died. His little sister, Selena, almost died.

But we five are still alive. But right now, I'm not sure who else is. When there was a white-hot explosion rippling over my back and almost knocked me over, all of us whirled around and stopped our fighting. Something just exploded and rock the entire arena's being, and after a few endless confused moments I realized exactly what it was.

_The forcefield. _

Not wasting another breathe, I bolt in the direction of the explosion. Finnick is behind me, pulling Mags on his shoulders as he runs, his eyes wide and frantic.

_Please let there be someway she's still alive, _I'm praying as I dash onto the scene, _please let them be alive. _

Rue is on the ground, a bloody wound on her stomach. Her face in borderlining with obvious agony, but more surprise has taken over her expression now. Rose is beside her, mouth hung open as Rain cries, face fearful. The ground tears beneath me a little as I run, feeling something bitterly cold rush against me. It's the true May air; there's a large hole now in the forcefield. The thing is, the invisible force is beginning the close.

_Where is she?! _

Then I notice the bloody clump of blonde hair. She's burnt severely, I can tell, and bloodly small wound decorate her arms and legs. Her face is pink and her breathes are short, quick, but her eyes are open wide. Johanna Mason is gasping beside her, looking in worse shape; one of her arms is gone. None the less, she's the first to get up, screaming in agony but ripping off her shrt, starting to wrap the hole with free arm. With stumbling fingers, I start to help her, eyes watching the closing forcefield frantically.

"We can't wait," she snarls, and I know she's right; it's truly now or never.

I scoop up Prim as she stumbles, hefting her axe on her good shoulder as Finnick comes over himself, striding easily with his face twisted. Mags has her arms around his neck, biting on something happily. Rose is holding Rainlynn as tightly as she can without injuring both of them in one arm, and Rue is in his other, looking in pain. There are two packs dangling from that that same arm by their straps; I will never underestimate his strength again.

Without another moment to spare, we bolt through the opening of the arena, into the real world again.


End file.
